
Class 



s_Lj-1S. 






A STUDENTS' HISTORY OF 
THE UNITED STATES 



•y^^y^o' 




Abraham Lincoln 
From a photograph by Brady, 1860 



A STUDENTS' HISTORY 



OF 



THE UNITED STATES 



BY 
EDWARD CHANNING 

PROFESSOR OF HISTORY IN HARVARD UNIVERSITY 



WITH MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS 



WeiD lEtJitt'on, Initi) ^titJitt'ons 



THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 

LONDON: MACMILLAN & CO., LTD, 
• I912 

All rights reserved 



EIl-178 



Copyright, 1897, 
Bv THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. 

Copyright, 1898, 
By the MACMILLAN COMPANY. 

Copyright, 1904, 
By the MACMILLAN COMPANY. 

Copyright, 1908, 
By the MACMILLAN COMPANY. 



Set up and electrotyped. Published December, 1897. Reprinted April, 1898. 
New Edition, with additions, printed September, 1898; August, 1899; July, 
1900; March, 1901; March, 1902; May, 1903. Revised edition printed June, 
1904; January, July, 1905; March, 1906; February, 1907; January, 1908; 
December, 1908; May, 1910; August, 1911; July, 1912. 



PREFATORY NOTE 

The cordial welcome and continued favor which have 
been accorded to this advanced manual of United States 
history have been. far in excess of the author's expectations. 
He feels assured that this success has been due, in great 
measure, to the kindness of the many friends which the 
book has found. In preparing this new edition he has 
endeavored, as far as possible, to meet their wishes, to 
follow their valuable suggestions, to correct the errors 
which they have pointed out, and to bring the text down 
to the present time. 

CAMBRmoE, Massachusetts, 
May 2, 1904. 



vfi 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 

INTRODUCTION 
The Land and its Resources 



SEC. PAGE 

1. Geography and History . . i 

2. Temperature of America and 

of Europe 2 

3. Temperature of the United 

States 5 

4. Rainfall 7 



5. Physical Formation of North 

America 8 

6. The Atlantic Seaboard . . 10 

7. The Mississippi Basin . . 12 

8. The Cordilleran Region . . 14 

9. Adaptability of the Continent 15 



CHAPTER I 

Discovery and Exploration, 1000-1600 



13- 



14. 



19- 



23- 



PAGE 

Voyages of the Northmen . 19 
English and French Fisher- 
men 20 

Early Geographical Ideas . 20 
Ideas of Toscanelli, Behriim, 

and Columbus .... 21 
Columbus's First Voyage, 

1492 24 

Columbus's Later Voyages . 25 
The Cabot Voyages, 1497, 

1498 27 

The Naming of America . 29 
Discovery of the Pacific, 

1513 30 

Circumnavigation of the 

Globe 32 

Florida, 1513 33 

Mexico 33 

The Atlantic Coast ... 34 

The Verrazano Voyage, 1524 34 



25- 



26. 



27. 



28. 



29. 



34- 



PAGE 

Wanderings of Cabeza de 
Vaca, 1527-36 .... 35 

Coronado's Expedition, 
1540-42 36 

De Soto's Expedition, 1539- 

43 • • - 37 

The French in the St. Law- 
rence, 1534-41 .... 37 
The Huguenot Colonies, 

1555-65 38 

Destruction of the French 

Colony, 1565 39 

The Elizabethan Seamen . 40 
Drake's Voyage around the 

World 42 

Sir Humphrey Gilbert . . 42 
The Ralegh Colonists, 1584- 

90 43 

The Spanish Armada, 1588 44 



Table of Contents 



CHAPTER II 

Colonization, 1600-1660 



SEC. PAGE 

35. The French in Acadia and 

Canada 50 

36. Revival of English Enter- 

prise 

37. The Virginia Company, 1606 

38. The Popham Colony, 1607 . 

39. Thejamestown Colony, 1607 

40. The Virginian Charters of 

1609 and 1612 .... 

41. Dale's Administration 

42. Introduction of Representa- 

tive Institutions .... 

43. Introduction of Forced La- 

bor 

44. Overthrovif of the Virginia 

Company, 1624 .... 

45. Virginia under the Royal 

Governors, 1624-52 . . 

46. Virginia during the Puritan 

Supremacy 59 

■47. The Calverts and Mary- 
land 

48. Boundaries of Maryland 

49. Government of Maryland . 

50. Toleration Act, 1649 . . . 

51. The Council for New Eng- 

land 

52. The English Puritans . . 

53. The Pilgrims 63 

54. The Pilgrim Compact, 1620 65 

55. Settlement at Plymouth, 

1620 67 



69 
70 



SEC PAGE 

56. The Pilgrims and Com- 

munism 67 

57. Form of Government . . 68 

58. The Massachusetts Bay 

Company, 1629 .... 

59. The Puritans in England 

60. The Great Emigration, 1630- 

40 

61. Problems of Government . 

62. Attacks on Massachusetts . 

63. Roger Williams .... 

64. Founding of Providence, 

1636 

65. Anne Hutchinson and her 

Adherents 75 

66. Settlements on Narragan- 

sett Bay 76 

67. Founding of Connecticut, 

1635-40 ^^ 

68. Connecticut Orders of 1638- 

39 

69. Extent of Connecticut . . 

70. New Haven, 1638 .... 

71. The First New England 

Code of Laws, 1641 . . 

72. The United Colonies of New 

England, 1643 .... 

73. Articles of Confederation . 80 

74. The Dutch Settlements . . 82 

75. Kieft and Stuyvesant ... 83 

76. The Swedes on the Delaware 84 

77. Summary 85 



78 
78 
78 

79 

79 



CHAPTER III 
A Century of Colonial History, 1660-1760 



SEC. PAGE 

78. The New Era in Coloniza- 

tion 90 

79. The Puritans and ihe 

Quakers 90 

80. The English Government 

and Massachusetts ... 92 

81. Massachusetts Declaration 

of Rights, 1661 .... 93 



SEC. PAGE 

82. The Commission of 1664 . 93 

83. Charters of Connecticut and 

Rhode Island .... 94 

84. Conquest of New Nether- 

land, 1664 95 

85. Settlement of New Jersey . 96 

86. William Penn 97 

87. Mason and Dixon's Line . 98 



Table of Contents 



XL 



90. 

91. 
92. 
93- 

94. 

95- 
96. 

97- 



99- 



PAGE 
The Northern Boundary of 

Pennsylvania .... 99 
Penn and the Indians . . 100 
Government of Pennsyl- 
vania 100 

The Carolina Charters . . loi 
Settlement of the Carolinas 102 
Grievances of the Virgini- 
ans, 1660-76 103 

Bacon's Rebellion, 1676 . 104 
Virginia, 1677-170Q . . . 104 
Overthrow of the Massa- 
chusetts Charter . . . 104 
The Stuart Tyranny in New 

England 105 

The "Glorious Revolution" 

in America 107 

Policy of the New Govern- 
ment 107 



SEC. PAGE 

100. Georgia no 

loi. The Carolinas no 

102. Constitutional Progress, 

1689-1760 Ill 

103. French and Indian Wars, 

1690-1748 112 

104. Founding of Louisiana . . 114 

105. Expulsion of the French, 

1754-63 "5 

106. The Proclamation of 1763 . 117 

107. The Albany Congress, 

1754 119 

108. Statistics of Population, 

1760 120 

109. Negro Slavery .... 121 
no. White Servitude .... 122 

111. Religion 123 

112. Education 124 



CHAPTER IV 



Intercolonial Union, i 760-1 774 



SEC. PAGE 

113. Change in the Colonial 

Policy of Britain . . . 131 

114. The Colonial System . . 132 

115. Difficulties in Enforcing the 

Laws 133 

116. Writs of Assistance, 1761 . 134 

117. Otis's Rights of the Colo- 

nies, 1764 13s 

118. The Parson's Cause, 1763 . 136 

119. Grenville's Policy . . 138 

120. Passage of the Stamp Act, 

1765 139 

121. The Stamp Act . . . 140 

122. Representative Institutions 140 

123. English Theory of Repre- 

sentation 143 

124. Resistance in America . . 144 

125. The Stamp Act Congress, 

1765 146 

126. Repeal of the Stamp Act, 

1766 147 



SEC. PAGE 

127. The Townshend Acts, 1767 149 

128. Resistance to the Town- 

shend Acts, 1768, 1769 . 150 

129. Seizure of the Liberty, 1768 152 

130. The Virginia Resolves of 

1769 153 

131. Non- Importation Agree- 

ments, 1769 154 

132. The Boston Massacre, 1770 155 

133. Local Committees of Cor- 
157 



respondence . . 
Colonial Committees of 
Correspondence . . . 158 
135. Colonial Union .... 159 
Repressive Acts, 1774 . . 161 
The First Continental Con- 
gress, 1774 162 

138. More Repressive Measures, 

1774. ^ns 164 

139. Lexington and Concord, 

April 19, 1775 .... 165 



134- 



136. 
137- 



xu 



Table of Contents 



CHAPTER V 



Independence, i 775-1 783 



SEC. 
140. 
141. 
142. 

143- 
144. 

145- 
146. 

147. 



149. 
150. 
151- 

152. 



PAGE 

Material Prosperity, 1775 . 170 
Advantages of the Colonists 171 
Bunl^er Hill, 1775 . . . 172 
Evacuation of Boston, 1776 175 
Growth towards Independ- 
ence, 1775, 1776 . . . 176 
The State Constitutions . 176 
Organization of a General 
Government .... 178 

The Hessians 180 

The Declaration of Inde- 
pendence 181 

Campaign of 1776 . . . 184 

CaiTipaign of 1777 . . . 185 
The Conway Cabal, 1777, 

1778 188 

The French Alliance, 1778 190 



SEC. PAGE 

153. Lord North's Conciliatory 

Proposals, 1778 . . . 191 

154. Treason of Charles Lee . 192 

155. Arnold's Treason . . . 193 

156. The Southern Campaigns, 

1776-81 195 

157. The Yorktown Campaign, 

1781 198 

158. Naval Warfare .... 199 

159. Congress and the Army . 200 

160. The Newburg Addresses, 

1783 202 

161. Finances of the Revolution 203 

162. The Loyalists 204 

163. Peace Negotiations of 1782 205 

164. The Treaty of Peace, 1783 208 

165. Problems of Peace . . .211 



CHAPTER VI 



The Constitution, 1783- 1789 



SEC. PAGE 

166. Nationalism and Particu- 

larism 215 

167. Formation of the Articles 

of Confederation . . . 216 

168. The Articles of Confedera- 

tion 218 

169. Importance of the Articles 

of Confederation . . . 219 

170. Claims to Western Lands 219 

171. Validity of these Claims . 222 

172. The Land Cessions . . . 222 

173. The Ordinance of 1787 . . 224 

174. Social Progress, 1780-89 . 227 

175. Foreign Relations, 1783-89 228 

176. Financial Problems, 1783- 

86 230 

177. The Critical Period, 1786, 

1787 231 



SEC PAGE 

178. Attempts to amend the 

Articles 232 

179. Genesis of the Federal Con- 

vention 232 

180. The Federal Convention, 

1787 234 

181. Nature of the Constitution 236 

182. The Great Compromises . 237 

183. A Government of Checks 

and Balances .... 239 

184. The Legislative Power . . 240 

185. The Supreme Court . . . 241 

186. Political Parlies .... 242 

187. Stability of the Constitu- 

tion 244 

188. The President 246 

189. Ratification of the Constitu- 

tion, 1787, 1788 . . . 247 



Table of Contents 



xiu 



CHAPTER VII 
The Federalist Supremacy, i 789-1 800 



SEC. PAGE 

190. Washington elected Presi- 

dent 257 

191. John Adams elected Vice- 

Presinent 258 

192. Political Tendencies, 1789 259 

193. Washington's Inaugura- 

tion, 1789 262 

194. Organization of tne Gov- 

ernment 264 

195. Hamilton'sFinancial Meas- 

ures 266 

196. The National Capital and 

Assumption 268 

197. The First Slavery Debates, 

1789, 1790 269 

198. The Excise and the Bank, 

1791 271 

199. Rise of the Republican 

Party 273 



SEC PAGE 

200. The Neutrality Proclama- 

tion, 1793 274 

201. Relations with Great Britain 276 

202. Jay's Treaty, 1794 . . . 278 

203. Ratification of Jay's Treaty, 279 

204. Relations with Spain and 

France, 1794-97 . . . 280 

205. Washington's Farewell Ad- 

dress, 1797 281 

206. Election of John Adams, 

1796 281 

207. Breach with France, 1796- 

99 283 

208. Alien and Sedition Acts, 

1798 284 

209. The Virginia and Kentucky 

Resolutions, 1798, 1799 . 286 

210. Treaty with France, 1800 . 288 

211. The Election of 1800 . . 290 

212. The Judiciary Act, 1801 . 292 



CHAPTER VIII 
The Jeffersonian Republicans, 1801-1812 



SEC. PAGE SEC 

213. American Ideals, 1800 . . 295 229. 

214. Population in 1800 ... 296 

215. Analysis of the Population 299 230. 

216. Various Statistics . . . 300 

217. Occupations of the People 301 231. 

218. Cotton Culture and Manu- 1 232. 

facture 302 

219. Slavery 305 '■ 233. 

220. Internal Communication . 306 

221. Intellectual Life .... 307 \ 234. 

222. The Federalists and the | 

People 308 I 235. 

223. Jefferson's Inaugural . , 310 j 

224. The Civil Service . . . 311 j 236. 

225. The Judiciary Department 313 j 237. 

226. Financial Policy .... 314 \ 

227. The Louisiana Purchase, | 238. 

1803 315 239. 

228. Questions arising out of the I 

Purchase 317 | 



The Twelfth Amendment, 



1804 319 

Burr's Conspiracy and 

Trial, 1804-07 .... 320 
Attacks on Neutral Trade 321 
Decrees and Orders, 1806- 

10 322 

The Impressment Contro- 
versy, 1793-1807 . . . 323 
The Outrage on the Chesa- 
peake, 1807 325 

Jefferson's Embargo Pol- 
icy, 1807, 1808 .... 325 
Effects of the Embargo . 327 
The Non-intercourse Act, 



The Erskine Treaty, 1809 . 

The Declaration of War, 

1812 



328 
329 

330 



XIV 



Table of Contents 



CHAPTER IX 
War and Peace, i8i 2-1829 



SEC. 




PAGE 


SEC. 


240. 


Nature of the Conflict . 


335 


256 


241. 


Campaigns of 1812-14 . 


337 




242. 


The British Defeat at New 




257. 




Orleans, 1814, 1815 . 


337 


258. 


243- 


The War on the Sea 


338 




244. 


The Privateers . . . 


341 


259- 


245- 


Negotiations for Peace . 


341 


260. 


246. 


The Treaty of Ghent, 1814 


342 


261. 


247. 


The Hartford Convention 


343 


262. 


248. 


Results of the War . . 


345 


263. 


249 


Altered Industrial Condi 




264. 




tions, 1816 .... 


346 




250. 


Early Tariff Legislation 


347 


265. 


2SI- 


Growth of Textile Indus- 








tries, 1800-15 . . . 


348 


266. 


252. 


Tariff Act of 18 16 . . 


348 


267. 


2S^. 


Monroe's Administrations 


349 




254- 


The Policy of Nationaliza- 




268. 




tion 


350 




255. 


Relations with Great Brit- 




269. 




ain, 1815-18 .... 


352 


270. 



PAGB 

Relations with Spain, 1810- 

19 353 

The Florida Treaty, 1819 . 354 
The Spanish- American 

Colonies, 1808-22 . . 355 
The Monroe Doctrine, 1823 356 
The Russian Treaty of 1824 359 
Extension of Slave Territory 359 
The Missouri Compromises 361 
The Tariff of 1824 . . . 363 
The Election of J. Q. 

Adams, 1824, 1825 . . 364 
J. Q. Adams's Administra- 
tion, 1825-29 .... 368 
Foreign Relations, 1825-29 369 
Adams and Georgia, 1825- 

27 370 

The Tariff of Abomina- 
tions, 1828 371 

Calhoun's Exposition, 1828 372 
Elections of 1828 .... 373 



CHAPTER X 

The National Democracy, i 829-1 844 



SEC. PAGE 

271. Significance of Jackson's 

Election 377 

272. Theory of Popular Sover- 

eignty 378 

273. Population and Area in 

1830 380 

274. Influence of Slavery . . . 383 

275. Improvements in Trans- 

portation 384 

276. Railroads 386 

277. Other Inventions .... 387 

278. Social Changes .... 387 

279. Education and Religion . 388 

280. The Spoils System, 1829 . 390 

281. Webster and Hayne . . . 391 

282. Nullification, 1832, 1833 . 395 

283. The Force Bill .... 397 

284. The Compromise Tariff . 398 

285. The Anti-slavery Agitation, 

1831-38 399 



SEC. 
286. 

287. 



290. 
291. 
292. 

293- 
294. 

295- 
296. 

297- 



PAGE 

Anti-abolition Sentiment in 
the North, 1834-37 . . 400 

Slavery Petitions in Con- 
gress, 1B36 400 

Change of Sentiment in the 
North. 1837, 1838 . . . 402 

Foreign Relations, 1829- 

37 403 

Jackson's War on the Bank 403 
Removal of the Deposits . 405 
Distribution of the Surplus, 

1837 406 

The Specie Circular, 1836 408 
The Independent Treasury 

Act, 1840 409 

The Election of 1840 . . 409 
Tyler's Administration, 

1841-45 411 

The Ashburton Treaty, 
1842 412 



Table of Contents 



XV 



CHAPTER XI 
Slavery in the Territories, 1844-1859 



SBC. PAGE 

298. Necessity for More Slave 

Territory ...... 417 

299. The Annexation of Texas, 

1845 419 

300. Mexican War, 1846-48 . . 421 

301. The Oregon Treaty, 1846 . 423 

302. The Wallier Tariff, 1846 . 425 

303. California, 1848-50 . . . 427 

304. The Wilniot Proviso, 1846 429 

305. The Election of 1848 . . 429 

306. Taylor's Policy, 1849, 1850 431 

307. Compromise of 1850 . . 433 

308. Fugitive Slaves .... 436 



SEC. PAGE 

309. Election of 1852 .... 438 

310. The Kansas-Nebraska Act 439 

311. Appeal of the Independent 

Democrats, 1854 . . 

312. Popular Sovereignty 

313. Struggle for Kansas, 1855 

61 

314. The Dred Scott Decision, 

1857 

315. Lincoln and Douglas, 1858 449 

316. John Brown's Execution . 450 

317. Helper's Impending Crisis, 

1857 4S2 



440 

442 



443 



448 



CHAPTER Xn 

Secession, 1860-1861 



SEC. PAGE 

318. Introductory 455 

319. Population, i860 .... 456 

320. Distribution of the Popula- 

tion, Area, etc 457 

321. Slave and Free Sections 

compared 459 

322. Transportation .... 461 

323. Material Prosperity . . . 462 

324. Financial Policy, 1857-61 . 464 

325. Mental Activity .... 465 

326. Election of i860 .... 467 



SEC. , PAGE 

327. Secession Threatened, i860 471 

328. Compromise Suggestions . 471 

329. The Crittenden Compro- 

mise 472 

330. Secession of Seven States, 

1860-61 ...... 473 

331. The Underlying Cause of 

Secession 475 

332. Southern Blunders , . . 476 

333. Apathy of the Northerners 477 



339. 
340. 



341- 



CHAPTER XHl 
The Civil War, 1861-1865 



SEC. PAGE 

334. Lincoln's Policy, 1861 . . 482 

335. Lincoln's Advisers . . . 483 

336. Uprising of the People, 

April, 1861 484 

337. The " Border States," 1861 486 

338. Military Strength of the 

North and the South . 487 

Numbers 488 

Northern Finances, 1861- 

65 489 

The National Banking 
System 491 



SEC. PAGE 

342. Increased Taxation . . . 491 

343. Southern Finances, 1861-65 492 

344. The Blockade 493 

345. Characteristics of the Con- 

flict 495 

346. Defense of Washington . 496 

347. Theater of War in Vir- 

ginia 497 

348. The Bull Run Campaign . 498 

349. The Contest in the West . 499 

350. The Trent Affair, x86i . . 502 

351. Capture of New Orleans . 503 



XVI 



Table of Contents 



SEC. 




PAGE 


352. 


Shiloh, April, 1862 . . . 


505 


3S3- 


The Afo/ntor and the Mer- 






ritnac, March, 1862 . 


506 


354- 


The Peninsular Campaign, 






March to August, 1862 . 


507 


3'=iS- 


The Second Bull Run Cam- 






paign, August, 1862 . . 


509 


3S6. 


The Antietam and Freder- 






icksburg, 1862 . . . . 


510 


357- 


Campaign in Eastern Ten- 






nessee, 1862 


5" 


3.S8. 


Lincoln's Policy as to 






Slavery, 1861-63 • • • 


513 


3.S9- 


The Emancipation Procla- 






mation, 1863 . . . . 


51S 


360. 


The Vicksburg Campaign 


516 


361. 


Chancellorsville, May, 1863 


517 



362. Geitysburg, July, 1863 



518 



SEC. 
363- 

364- 

363- 

366. 

367- 
368. 

369- 
370- 

371- 
372. 

373- 
374- 



PAGE 
Northern Opposition to the 
War 519 

Chickamauga and Chatta- 
nooga, 1863 520 

The Atlanta Campaign, 

May to July, 1864 . . . 522 
Plan of Campaign . . . 523 
Sherman and Thomas . . 524 
Grant and Lee, 1864 . . 525 
Sheridan's Valley Cam- 
paign, 1864 526 

Gieat Britain and the Con- 
federate Cruisers . . . 527 
Lincoln's Re-election, 1864 328 
The Surrender at Appo- 
mattox, 1865 .... 529 
Assassination of Lincoln . 529 
The Cost of the War . . 530 



CHAPTER XIV 

National Development, 1865-1900 



SEC. PAGE 

375. Return to Peace Condi- 

tions 533 

376. The Army and Navy . . 534 

377. The War Debt . . . .535 

378. Lincoln's Southern Policy 536 

379. Johnson's Reconstruction 

Policy, 1865 538 

380. The Freedmen's Bureau . 539 

381. The Fourteenth Amend- 

ment 540 

382. The Reconstruction Acts . 541 

383. Impeachment of President 

Johnson, 1868 .... 543 

384. Foreign Relations, 1865-69 543 

385. Election of 1868 .... 544 

386. End of Reconstruction . . 544 

387. Relations with Great Brit- 

ain 546 

388. Political Uncertaintjf . 547 



SEC. PAGE 

389. Election of 1876 .... 548 

390. A New Epoch, 1876 . . . 549 

391. Political History, 1877-96 . 550 

392. Civil Service Reform . . 553 

393. Taxation 555 

394. The Cuban Question . . 557 

395. Causes of the Spanish War 558 

396. The War on the Sea . . 561 

397. The Land Campaigns . . 565 

398. Conclusion of Hostilities . 569 

399. Population, 1900 .... 571 

400. Distribution of Population 573 

401. Transportation, 1900. . . 574 

402. Industrial Development . 577 

403. Agricultural Development . 578 

404. Prosperity, 1900 .... 579 

405. McKinley and Roosevelt . 580 

406. Alaska and Panama . . . 582 

407. Aroused Ethical Sentiment 584 



APPENDIX 

Declaration of Independence i 

Constitution of the United States y 

Index xi-f 





PAGE 


facing 


I 


« 


169 


« 


209 


« 


215 


« 


295 


« 


377 


«< 


417 


" 


455 


« 


533 



MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS 



COLORED MAPS 

NOS. 

I. The United States, showing forms of land 

II. The Colonies of 1763, from Bell's North America 

III. Negotiations of 1782, from Fitzmaurice's Shelburne 

IV. Territorial Acquisitions, 1 783-1853 
V. The United States in 1800 

VI. The United States in 1830 

VII. The United States in 1850 

VIII. The United States in i860 

IX. The United States in 1890 

X. The World, with especial reference to the United States 

and dependent territories . . . inside of front cover 

MAPS IN THE TEXT 

Lines of equal temperature, annual, February, August . . 3> 4» 5 

Average annual rainfall ........ 9 

Geographical ideas of Toscanelli, from Italian Columbian Com- 
mission Report ......... 22 

Behaim's globe (1492), from Ruge's Kariographie ... 23 

La Cosa's map (1500), from Ruge's Kariographie ... 26 

Bartholomew Columbus's map (before 1502) .... 27 

The Cabot map (1544) 28 

Routes of the discoverers 3I 

Virginia charter, 1606 ......... 52 

Virginia charter, 1609 ••••••••• 53 

New England and Maryland charters ...... 60 

Massachusetts, Connecticut, Carolana, and Carolina charters . 68 

Pennsylvania charter ......... 99 

Proclamation of 1763 . 1 18 

The Revolutionary War in the North 187 

The Revolutionary War in the South 196 

The United States, 1783 209 

Claims and cessions 221 

Election of 1796 282 

xvii 



xvm 



Maps and Illustrations 



PAGE 

Election of 1800 290 

Movement of center of population, 1 790-1900 .... 296 

Density of population, 1800 . 299 

The United States, 1803 316 

The United States, 1821 354 

Election of 1824 366 

Election of 1828 373 

Density of population, 1830 384 

Election of 1840 410 

Election of 1844 420 

The United States, 1845 4^3 

The United States, 1853 428 

Election of 1848 430 

Election of 1852 439 

Kansas-Nebraska Act ......... 441 

Election of 1856 447 

Density of population, i860 458 

Election of i860 469 

The United States, 1861, showing Slave and Free Soil . . 474 

Rivers and railroads of the South ...... 500 

Civil War in the East 508 

Civil War in the West . . . . . . . . .512 

Election of 1880 551 

Election of 1884 552 

Density of population, 1900 575 

ILLUSTRATIONS 

Abraham Lincoln, from a photograph by Brady, i860 . Frontispiece 

Toscanelli, from Italian Columbian Commission's Report, I . . 21 

Cosmographiae hitroductio, facsimile of passage .... 30 

Magellan, from Hakluyt Society's Magellan volume ... 32 

Cartier, after an engraving of the portrait at St. Malo ... 38 

John Hawkins, from Hakluyt Society's Hawkins's Voyages , . 41 

Champlain, from an engraving of the Moncornet portrait . . 51 

Dock at Plymouth, England, from a photograph . . . . 64 

The Pilgrim Compact, facsimile of Bradford's manuscript . . 66 
John Winthrop, from Life and Letters of John Winthrop, by per- 
mission of Little, Brown & Co. ...... 72 

Sir Henry Vane, from an old engraving ..... 76 

William Penn, from an ivory model by Bevan .... 97 

Sir Edmund Andros, froan an old engraving .... 106 

Massachusetts Currency, 1690, facsimile of original . . . 108 

A blockhouse, from Anburey's Travels 113 



Maps and Illustrations 



XIX 



of the 



Sir William Pepperell, from Parsons' Life of Pepper ell, by permis 

sion of Little, Brown & Co. ...... 

Bienville, from an old engraving ...... 

General Wolfe, from an old engraving . . . 

James Otis, from an early engraving, by permission of D. Apple 

ton & Co. ......... 

Patrick Henry, after a contem.porary miniature . 
New Jersey currency, 1763, facsimile of original. 
Samuel Adams, after a portrait by Copley .... 

The Hancock House, from an original engraving 
Faneuil Hall, 1776, from an original engraving . 
Thomas Hutchinson, after Truman's portrait 
Tea Handbill, from an early engraving .... 

Joseph Warren, after a portrait by Copley, by permission of Little, 

Brown & Co. ........ 

George Washington, after a portrait by C. W. Peale 

Thomas Paine's American Crisis, facsimile of part of first page 

Declaration of Independence, facsimile of Jefferson's original 

draft 

General Stark, from Stark's Memoir of John Stark 
General Steuben, after a portrait in New York City Hall 
General Wayne, after a sketch by Trumbull, by permission 

Lippincott Company ..... 
Lafayette, from an engraving by Ethion 
Nathan Hale's birthplace, from Stuart's Life of LLale 
General Greene, after a portrait by Trumbull 
Virginia currency, 1777, facsimile of original 
Continental currency, 1775, facsimile of original . 
Benjamin Franklin, after a portrait by Martin 
John Dickinson, after a portrait by C. W. Peale . 
General G. R. Clark, after a portrait by Jarvis 
Daniel Boone, after a portrait by Harding . 
Fitch's steamboat, facsimile of cut in Columbian Magazine, i 
Gouverneur Morris, from a contemporary engraving 
Stratford House, from a contemporary engraving 
Richard Henry Lee, after a portrait by Chappel . 
Monticello, Jefferson's residence, from a contemporary print 
George Washington, 1785, after a mask made from the living face 
Mount Vernon, view of the West Parlor, from a photograph 
Mrs. Alexander Hamilton, after a portrait by R. Earl, by permis 

sion of D. Appleton & Co 

Alexander Hamilton, from a miniature by Robertson 

John Jay, after a portrait by Stuart 

Mrs. John Jay, from a contemporary print . . 



786 



114 

"5 
116 

135 
136 
138 
151 
152 
156 

157 
160 

173 
174 
179 

182 
186 
189 

192 
194 

195 
197 
201 
203 
206 
217 
220 
223 
225 

235 
249 
250 
260 
263 
264 

266 
267 
278 
279 



XX 



Maps and Illustrations 



Mrs. John Adams, after a portrait by Schessele . . 

John Adams, after a portrait by Stuart 

Timothy Pickering, from Pickering's Life of Pickerings by per 

mission of Little, Brown & Co., and Henry Pickering, Esq, 
Robert Fulton, after a portrait by A. G. de Maury 
Eli Whitney, after a portrait by King .... 
Thomas Jefferson, from an engraving by W. HoU 
Albert Gallatin, from engraving in Adams's Gallatin,hy permission 

of the Lippincott Company and A. H. Gallatin, Esq. 
John Marshall, after a portrait by Henry Inman . 
Theodosia Burr, after an engraving by H. Wright Smith 
James Madison, after a portrait by Stuart . 
Mrs. James Madison, after a portrait by Stuart . 
James Monroe, after a portrait by J. Vanderlyn . 
Ashland, Clay's residence, from a contemporary print . 
John Quincy Adams, from an engraving by J. W. Paradise 
Henry Clay, after a portrait by Charles King 
Andrew Jackson, after a portrait by Longacre 
Backwoodsman, from Basil Hall's Forty Sketches, 1829 
Stagecoach, from Basil Hall's Forty Sketches, 1829 
Benjamin Silliman, by permission of the Eclectic Company 
Benjamin Peirce, by permission of D. Appleton & Co. 
Asa Gray, by permission of the Eclectic Company 
Joseph Henry, from a photograph .... 
James D. Dana, by permission of the Eclectic Company 
Webster's house at Marshfield, from Webster's Works 
Daniel Webster, from a photograph of Pawers's bust . 
John C. Calhoun, from a contemporary engraving 
Samuel Houston, from a contemporary engraving , 
Winfield Scott, after a daguerreotype by Gurney , 
Cyrus H. McCormick, after a portrait by Cabanel . 
Sutter's mill, from a contemporary engraving 
William Lloyd Garrison, from a contemporary print . 
Harriet Beecher Stowe, from a contemporary engraving 
Sumner and Longfellow, from a contemporary print 
John Brown, from a contemporary engraving 
Francis Parkman, by permission of the Eclectic Company 
Jared Sparks, after a portrait by Sully 
George Bancroft, after a photograph .... 
William H. Prescott, from a photograph . . . 
Washington Irving, from a portrait by Martin 
William C. Bryant, by permission of D. Appleton & Co. 
John G. Whittier, by permission of Houghton, Mifflin & Co, 
Ralph Waldo Emerson, by permission of Houghton, Mifflin & Co 



PAGE 

284 



Maps and Illustrations xxi 

PAGE 

Oliver Wendell Holmes, by permission of Houghton, Mifflin & Co. 468 

James Russell Lowell, by permission of Houghton, Mifflin & Co. 468 
Wendell Phillips, from Austin's Phillips, by permission of Lee and 

Shepard . 470 

James Buchanan, after a daguerreotype by Brady . . . 472 

Handbill "To Arms !" 1861, facsimile of original . . . 485 

Certificate of Deposit, facsimile of original ..... 490 

Confederate States Almanac, 1864, title-page .... 492 

Admiral Farragut, after a photograph ..... 504 

General Grant, after a photograph 521 

General Sherman, after a photograph 521 

General Sheridan, after a photograph 521 

General Thomas, after a photograph 521 

General Hancock, after a photograph 521 

Libby Prison, from a contemporary print ..... 526 

The Washington Monument, from a photograph .... 547 

J. A. Garfield, after a photograph 550 

Grover Cleveland, after a photograph 554 

Benjamin Harrison, after a photograph 556 

Battleship Oregon ......... 559 

Admiral Dewey 561 

Admiral Sampson ......... 562 

Admiral Schley 562 

Battleship /(?7c/rt in Dry Dock ' . . 563 

General Miles 566 

General Merritt 566 

General Shafter 567 

Santiago Harbor and City . . 568 

The Brooklyn Bridge, from a photograph 574 

Elias Howe, after a photograph ....... 576 

William McKinley 581 



SCHOOL LIBRARIES 

(The price of each book is given in parentheses. These figures are 
taken from the publishers' trade lists; often considerable reductions can 
be obtained.) 

For the teacher: Channing and Hart's Guide io the Study of A ineri- 
can History. Boston: Ginn & Co. ($2.00,) 

THE SMALLEST LIBRARY 

1o\^xi's\.o\Ci> American Politics. New York : Holt. (80 cents.) 
Hart's Epochs of American History. 3 vols. New York : Longmans. 

(3 vols., I1.25 each.) 
Dodge's Bird^s-Eye Vieiv of our Civil IVar. Boston: Houghton. 

(*i.oo.) 

D. C. Heath's Smaller Outline Maps of the United States were pre- 
pared by Professor Hart and the present writer for work contemplated 
in the Suggestive Questions. 



Hart and Channing's American History T eaflets. 30 numbers. New 

York: Lovell. (10 cents each.) 
School histories of England and of France. 

A GOOD LIBRARY 

The books already mentioned and the following works: 

'^\g%\Xi%ovi\ Larger History. New York: Harper's. (^3.50.) 
Fisher's Colonial Era. New York : Scribner's. ($1.25.) 
'Walker's Making of the A'^ation. New York: Scribner's. ($1.25.) 
Lodge's English Colonies. New York : Harper's. ($3-50.) 
Hinsdale's American Government. Werner School Book Co. (^$1.2^.') 

xxii 



School Libj'aries xxiii 

Fiske's N'ew England (^$2.00); American Revolution (2 vols. 54-00); 

Criiical Period {$2.00). Boston: Houghton. 
Va.xkrm.ri's Pioneers. Boston: Little. ($1.50.) 
Channing's History of ike United States, Vols. I, II. New York : Mac- 

millan. ($2.50 each.) 
^t&rx'wooA^s Presidential Elections. Boston: Houghton. ($1.50.) 
TdiMss\g^s Tariff History. New York : Putnam. (;^i.25.) 
Schouler's United States. New York : Dodd. (5 vols. ^17.25.) 
'KhoA&s,^?> United States. New York : Macmillan. (7 vols. $ 17.50.) 
Tarr and McMurry's North America. New York : Macmillan. (75 

cents.) Has supplementary volumes on separate states. 
" American Statesmen " (Boston : Houghton) : Lodge's Washington 

and Webster, Morse's y. Q. Adams and Lincoln, ?>\xv[mQr''s /aekson. 

(^1.25 each.) 
" Makers of America " (New York : Dodd) : Wendell's Cotton Mather, 

Sumner's Robert Morris and Hamilton^ Schouler's Jefferson. 

($1.00 each.) 
Miggmson's American E.vJ>lorers. New York : Longmans. ($1.20.) 
Old South Leaflets. Boston : Directors of Old South Lectures. 
Hart's Contemporaries. New York : Macmillan. (4 vols. ^2.00 each.) 
Histories of the state and of the town in which the school is situated. 

Gardiner's Studenfs History of England, Green's Short History of the 
English People, Higginson and Channing's English History for 
Americans, Duruy's History of Fra7ice. 



A VERY GOOD LIBRARY 
The books already mentioned and the following works : 

Winsor's Narrative and Critical History (8 vols. $5.50 each) and his 
Columbus {^if.oo). Boston : Houghton. 

Carrington's Battles of the Revolution ($6.00), or his Washington. 

\ji\or^s Cyclopadia of Political Science, Chicago. (Subscription.) 

Stedman and Hutchinson's Library of American Literature, 13 vols.. 
New York (subscription) (contains many selections from the 
books mentioned at the beginning of chapters under "Illustra- 
tive Material"). 



xxiv School Libraries 

Larned's History for Ready Reference. (5 vols. IS5.00 each.) 
Clarke's Anti-Slavery Days. j These books are out of print, but 

McCulloch's Men and Measures. \ may be obtained from dealers in 
Quincy's Figures of the Past. J second-hand books. 

Maclay's United States Navy. New York : Appleton. (2 vols, i^y.oo.) 
Gardiner's Puritan Revolution, Lecky's England (Vols. Ill and IV), 

Rose's Revolutionary Era, or Stephens's French Revolution. 
Y'\sk.t.^s Civil Go7ierninent. Boston: Houghton. ($1.00.) 
Bryce's American Cofnmonwealth, abridged edition. New York: 

Macmillan. ($1.75.) 
MacDonald's Documentary Soitrce Book of American History, 1606- 

1898. New York : Macmillan. ($1.75.) 
Rand's Selections illustrating Economic History since the Seven Years' 

War. New York: Macmillan. (^2.50.) 

The constitution of your state, and local documents. 



The United States issues two volumes entitled Charters and Con- 
stitutions of the United States, which may be obtained through members 
of Congress. Another useful work issued by the Government is J. D. 
Richardson's A/sssages and Papers of the Presidents. Current numbers of 
the Congressional Record, and the Manuals of the two Houses may also 
be obtained through Congressmen. The Land Office map — the best 
map for school use — can be obtained by sending eighty cents to the 
Financial Clerk of the Interior Department, and other maps, as the 
beautiful contour map, can be secured through members of Congress. 

Most of the books mentioned in this' work will be found in the 
Public Library of the city or town in which the school is situated, and 
arrangements can often be made for the special use of particular 
books. 

Larned's Literature of American History will be of great service to 
all persons who are getting together selected libraries for towns and 
cities. 



IMPORTANT DATES 

The more important dates are printed in bold-faced type. With each 
date tlie student should associate as many events as possible. It is 
better to learn a few dates correctly than it is to remember many dates 
incorrectly. Another list may be found in the Guide, p. 157. 

1492. Columbus (Discovery of America). 

1497- John Cabot (Discovery of North America). 

1513. Ponce de Leon (Florida) and Balboa (Pacific). 

1524. Verrazano and Gomez (Atlantic coast). 

1534. Cartier (the French in the St. Lawrence). 

1 539-1 542. De Soto and Coronado (the Spaniards in the United 

States). 
1588. Defeat of the Armada (Beginnings of English Colonization) . 
1604. Acadia (the French in the North). 
1607. Virginia (the First Permanent English-American Colony). 

1619. Representative Government and Slavery in Virginia. 

1620. The Pilgrims at Plymouth (the First Permanent English 

Colony in the North). 
1630. The " Great Emigration to Massachusetts." 
1632. Maryland (the Calverts and Toleration). 

1635. Connecticut (Constitutional Development). 

1636. Roger Williams (Separation of Church and State), 
1643. New England Confederation. 

1649. Maryland Toleration Act. 

1664. English Conquest of New Netherland. 

1676. Bacon's Rebellion and King Philip's War. 

1689. The "Glorious Revolution" in America. 

1 701. Pennsylvania Charter of Privileges. 



xxvi Important Dates 

1713. The Treaty of Utrecht. 

1754. Albany Plan of Union. 
1763. Peace of Paris and King's Proclamation. 
1765. The Stamp Act (Henry's Resolves). 
1767. The Townshend Acts (colonial union). 

1774. Massachusetts Government Act and First Continental Con- 

gress. 

1775. Lexington and Concord. 

1776. Declaration of Independence. 
1781. Articles of Confederation. 

1783. Treaty of Peace (Boundaries, Debts, etc.), 
1787. The Constitution and the Northwest Ordinance. 
1794. Jay's Treaty (Foreign Relations and Party Organization). 
1 798-1 799. Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions. 
1803. Louisiana Purchase. 

1812-1815. War with England (Neutral Commerce and Impress- 
ment). 
1814. Hartford Convention. 
1820. Missouri Compromise. 
1823. The Monroe Doctrine. 
1832. The Nullification Episode. 
1845. Annexation of Texas. 
1846-1848. Mexican War. 
1850. Compromise on Slavery. 
1854. Kansas-Nebraska Act. 
1857. The Dred Scott Case. 
1861-1865. The Civil War. 
1863. Emancipation Proclamation. 
1867. Reconstruction Act. 
1883. Civil Service Reform. 
1898. Spanish War. 



A PERSPECTIVE OF UNITED STATES HISTORY 



Discovery and 
Exploration, 
I 000-1600. 

Ch. I. 



(The numbers in parentheses refer to sections of the text) 

r Northmen, 1000 (10). 
Discovery OF J Columbus, 1492 (13-15). 
AMERICA, i John Cabot, 1497 (16). 

1000-1492. y Americas Vespucius \X*). 



Proof that 
America was 
NOT Asia, 
1513-1520. 



Explora- 
tions, 1500- 
1600. 



Decline of 
Spain's Sea- 
power, 1550- 
_ 1600. 

f Spanish, 
1540 1760. 

French, 
1604-1760. 

Dutch and 

Swedes, 

1609-1664, 



Colonization, 
I 600-1 760. 

Chs.IIandlll. 



English, 
1607-1760. 



Balboa, 1513 (18^ 
Magellan, 1520 (,19). 



r Ponce de Leon, 1513 (20>, 
j Cortez, 1519-21 (21). 
I Coronado, 1540-42 (25). 
t De Soto, 1539-43 (26). 
rVerrazano, 1524 (23). 
J Carder, 1534-41 (27). 
I The Huguenots, 1555-^5 
i (28, 29). 
f The Cabots, 1498 (16). 
I Hawkins and Drake, I^62- 
\ 80 (30-32). 

The Ralegh Colonists, 
L 1584-90 (33). 
Defeat of the Spanish Armada, 1588 (34). 

( 77^.? Soutlnoest, 1540-1760 (25, 26). 
\ Florida, 1565-1760 (29). 
f Acadia, 1604 (35). 

\ Quebec and the St. Laivreiice, 1608 (35). 
I Louisiana, 1699 (104). 

J Nerv Netherland, 1609-64 (74, 75). 
j New Sweden. 1638-55 (76). 



Spanish. 



French. 



English. 



r Chesapeake Bay Colo- 
nies, 1607-32 (37, 
39-50,93-95). 



J Virginia, 1607. 
( Maryland, 1632. 

f Plymouth, 1620. 

I Massachusetts, 1630. 

] Connecticut and New 

"j Haven, 1635-38. 

I Providence and Rhode 

[ Island, 1636. 



English Con- 
quests, 1664- 
1 1763. 



A^ezv England, 1620-38 
(51-73,79-83). 

Southern Colonies, 
1663-1732 (91,92, 
100,101). 

Middle Colonies, 1664- 
81(84,90). 
^ The Glorio7is Revolution, 1688-89 (97-99) 
r A'ew Netherland and New Sweden, 1664(84) . 
I Acadia ^»d Canada, , ^^^.^^ ^f 1763. 
I 1763 (lOo, lUO, J _ . 

I 106). 



\ The Carolinas, 1663. 
I Georgia, 1732. 

f New York, 1664. 
■I New Jersey, 1664. 
Pennsylvania, 1681. 



J 1 reaty 01 1703. 

\ Proclamation of 1763. 



xxviii A Perspective of United States History 



The 

Revolution, 
I 760-1 788. 
Chs. IV-VI. 



Constitution 
Making, 
I 775-1 788. 
Ch. VI. 



Divergent 
Theories on 
Constitution 
OF British 
Empire, 1760. 



Attempts to 

ENFORCE 

British Ideas, 
1761-1775. 



Interco- 
lonial Union, 
1754-1774- 



Independ- 
ence, 1775- 
1783. 



Articles of 
Confedera- 
tion, 178 1- 
1788. 



The Consti- 
tution, 1787. 



Colonial, 1760 (116- 
118,122,124,130). 



British, 1760 (122, 
123). 

Constitutional Questions 
. involved in Colonial 

Resistance 

(116-126). 

Exercise by Great 
Britain of Taxing 
Power (127-129, 
131). 

New England Confed- 
erates, 1643 (72173). 

Congresses, 1754-75 
(107, 125, 137). 

Extra-legal Committees, 
1770-75 (133, 135, 
137, 146, 166). 



Personal Union through 

King. 
Represented in Colonial 

Legislatures. 
Rights of Englishmen. 
Supremacy of Parliament. 
Legislative Union. 

Writs of Assistance, 1761. 
Parson's Cause, 1763. 
Declaratory Act, 1766. 
Gaspee Inquiry, 1772. 
Repressive Laws, 1774. 
Stamp Act, 1765. 
Townshend Duties, 1768. 
Enforcement of Navigation 
Acts, 1761-75. 

Albany Congress, 1754. 

Stamp Act Congress, 1765. 

Continental Congress, 
1774-75- 

Committees of Corre- 
spondence, 1770-72. 

American Association, 
1775- 



State Constitutions, 1776-80 (145). 
General Government, 1775-83 (l46). 
Declaration of Independence, 1776 (148). 
Acknowledgment of lndepende7ice , 1783 (152, 163, 
164). 

,' Formation, 1775-77 (167). 
Ratification, 1777-B1 (170-172). 
Form of Governmetit 

(16S, 169). 
The Critical Period 
(174-177). 



Ordinance of in8^ 
(173). 



Formation (178-180). 



Form of Government 
(181.183-188). 

Ratification, 1781-88 
(189). 

Interpretation (186). 



\ Taxation. 
/ Foreign Relations. 
( Repudiation. 
/ Civil War. 

Government of Territories. 
Slavery prohibited. 
Fugitive Slave Provision. 

Genesis of Federal Con- 
vention. 

The Convention, 1787. 

Sources of the Constitu- 
tion. 

The Compromises. 

The Legislative Power. 

Supreme Court. 

The President. 

Opposition to Ratification, 

First Ten Amendments. 

Strict Construction. 

Doctrine of Implied 
Powers. 



A Perspective of United States History 



XXIX 



Establish- 
ment OF 
Federal 
Authority, 
1789-1801. 



Contest be- 
tween Federal 
Authority and 
States' Rights 
— accentuated 
by Contest 
over Slavery, 
1789-1865. 
Chs. VII-XIII. 



Establish- 
ment OF 
National 
Democracy, 
1801-1841. 



Organization of the Gov- 
ernment. 
Formation of Parties. 
Neutrality Proclamation, 

1793- 
Jay's Treaty, 1794. 

I Conflict with France, 1798- 
99. 
Virginia and Kentucky 
Resolutions, 1798-99- 
" Revolution of 1800." 



George Washington, 
1789-97 (190-205). 



Contest over 

Slavery, 

1841-1865. 



'James Monroe, 1817-25 
(253-263). 



'John Quincy Adams, 
1825-29 (264-270). 



Andrew Jackson, 1829- 
37 (271, 272, 280- 
293). 



• Thomas Jefferson, 1801- \ Louisiana Purchase, 1803. 
1809 (222-236). I Rights of Neutrals, 

r Warof 1812. 
'James Madison, 1809- J Rise of Manufactures. 
17 (237-252). I Beginning of Protection, 

[ 1816. 
Nationalization. 
Florida Purchase, 1819. 
Missouri Compromise, 

1821. 
Monroe Doctrine, 1823. 
Tariff of 1824. 
Contest with Georgia. 
Panama Congress. 
Tariff of Abominations, 

1828. 
Spoils System. 
Popular Sovereignty, 
Rising Power of the West. 
Nullification, 1833. 
War on the Bank. 
Distribution of the Sur- 
plus. 
Panic of 1837. 
\ Independent Treasury Act. 
( 1840. 



Martin Van Ruren, 
1837-41 (294-295). 

William H. Harrison 

and John Tyler, 1841- 

45 (296-299). 
James K. Polk, 1845-49 

(299-305). 
7Mchary Taylor and 

Millard Fillmore, 

1849-53 (306-309). 
Franklin Pierce, 1853- 

57 (309-313). 
'James Buchanan, 1857- 

61 (313-317, 326- 

333). 

Abraham Lincoln, 1861- 
65 (334-374). 



Annexation of Texas, 1845. 
Mexican War, 1846-48. 
Walker Tariff, 1846. 
Oregon Treaty, 1846. 
Wilraot Proviso, 1846. 
Compromise of 1850. 

Kansas-Nebraska Act, 

1854. 
Struggle for Kansas. 
Dred Scott Decision, 1857, 
[ Secession, 1860-61. 
More Secession, 1861. 
War for the Union, 1861- 

65. 
Emancipation, 1863, 1866 



XXX 



A Perspective of United States History 



National 
Development, 
I 865-1 897. 
Ch. XIV. 



Political Re- 
adjustment, 
I 865-1 876 
(376-390). 



Industrial 
Development, 
I 876-1 897 
(391-400). 



Andrew Johnson, 1865- 

69. 
Ulysses S. Grant, 1869-77. 
Rutherford B. Hayes, 

1877-81. 
James A. Garfield and 

Chester A. Arthur, 

1881-85. 
Graver Cleveland, 

1885-89. 
Benjamin Harrison, 

1889-93. 
Grover Cleveland, 

1893-97. 
William McKinley, 

1897- 



Reconstruction, 1865-76. 
Impeachment, 1868. 
I Civil Service Reform. 
Disputed Election, 1876. 



Civil Service Reform. 

McKinley Tariff, 1890. 
Sherman Silver Law, 1890. 

Repeal of Silver Law, 1893. 
Spanish War, 1898. 



SPECIMEN DIGEST 



A Century of 

Colonial 

History. 



The Colonies 
DURING Res- 
toration 
Period, 1660- 
1688. 



The Colonies 
under the 
English 
Whigs, 1688- 
1760. 



' New Era in Coloniza- 
tion. 



Massachusetts. 



Clarendon and his colonial 
policy ; the Navigation 
Acts. 

' The Puritans and the 
Quakers ; the English 
government and Massa- 
chusetts ; Declaration oi 
Rights, 1661 ; the Com- 
mission of 1664. 

Charters of Connecticut, 1662 ; and of Rhode Island, 

1663. 
Conquest of New Netherland, 1664. 
New Jersey, 1664. 

f WiHiam Penn; bound- 
Pennsylvania. \ arias ; Penn and the 

[ Indians ; government. 



The Carolina charters ; 
settlement ; founding of 
Charleston ; the Funda- 
mental Constitutions. 



The Carolinas. 



Virginia. 



Constitutional Struggle. 



Constitutional Strug- 
gles. 

Georgia, 1732. 



Expulsion of the 
French. 



Grievances of the Vir- 
ginians ; Bacon's Re- 
bellion. 

Overthrow of Massachu- 
setts' charter, 1684; the 
Stuart Tyranny in New 
England ; the Glorious 
Revolution in America, 
1688-89. 

Policy of the new govern- 
ment ; the Carolinas ; 
constitutional progress. 

Early French and Indian 
Wars, 1690-1748 ; settle- 
ment of Louisiana, 1699 ; 
expulsion of the French, 
1754-63 ; Treaty and 
Proclamation of 1763 ; 
Albany Plan, 1754. 



General View of Colonial conditions in 1760. 
xxxi 




Longitude 



No. I. The United States, showin 
After a mao by J. W. Powel 




Green represents plains low and marshy near the coast 
which geoerall; rise to uplands in the int^rioft trenched 
hj flood plain valleys along the paths of the chief r 
The coast marshes and the flood plain of the lower 
Mississippi are colored alighter green. 



R. D. Servo8s, If. F. 



95 



90 



Greenwich 



85 



80 



75 



MS OF Land and Principal Rivers 
tional Qco^aphic Magazine 



THE UNITED STATES 

INTRODUCTION 

THE LAND AND ITS RESOURCES 
Books for Consultation 

General Readings. — Shaler in Winsor's America, IV, pp. i-xxx, 

especially pp. xx-xxx. 

Special Accounts. — *Shaler in his United States, I, chs. i-iii, 
vii-ix ; Tarr and McMurry's North America. * 

Sources and Bibliography. — Channing and Hart, Guide to 
American History, §§ 21, 21 a, 21 b, 77. 

Maps. — United States Geological Survey, United States Relief Map 
and Contour Map. Wall Map : United States Land Office, Map of 
the United States. The maps in Frye's Geography give an excellent 
idea of the topography. 

THE LAND AND ITS RESOURCES 

I. Geography and History. — The life of a nation depends Influence of 
mainly on its moral and mental make-up and the opportuni- geography 

r ■ 1-1 1 1 • 1 • • 1 ^ on history. 

ties of improvement which are placed within its reach. On 
the one hand, weak and declining races have made sHght 
use of the great natural resources of rich tropical countries ; 
on the other hand, strong races kave done litde in cold and 
barren lands. In the territory now occupied by the Ameri- 
can nation, a strong people found opportunities for develop- 
ment such as no other country of equal size possesses. In 
the present chapter will be found a brief description of the 
great natural resources which a kind Providence has placed 
at the disposal of the inhabitants of the United States. 
Without this knowledge, the student will seek in vain to 
understand the history of the American people. 



The Latid and its Resources 



[§2 



Influence of 
scientific dis- 
coveries on 
history. 



The cotton 
gin, Rhodes's 
United States, 
1,26, 



Climate and 
civilization. 



Since the early years of the nineteenth century, the appli- 
cation of steam to modes of transport has greatly lessened 
the importance of many natural forces. The railroad and 
the steamboat have overcome in great measure the obstacles 
to intercourse offered by distance, by mountain systems, and 
by river courses. The markets of the world are now more 
accessible to the farmer on the western prairies than they 
were to the cultivator of central New York in 1820. Mod- 
ern scientific discoveries have enabled man to make a better 
use of fertile soils and rich mineral deposits. As yet, how- 
ever, science has not been able to increase the rainfall of a 
rainless region or to moderate the climate so far as to affect 
agriculture. The historical student ought to note every 
important application of science to the improvement of 
the mechanical arts. If the cotton gin (§ 218) had never 
been invented, it is probable that slavery would have been 
peaceably abolished in the South before 1825. On the 
other hand, if slavery had been profitable in Pennsylvania 
and the Middle West it might still be in existence. Of 
all natural forces, the climate and rainfall are the most im- 
portant, because an excess of cold or an absence of rain 
forbids the development of human activity. 

2. Temperature of America and of Europe. — On the 
following pages are maps showing the lines of equal tem- 
perature for Europe and North America. 

It will be seen that those portions of Europe which have 
been the seat of the greatest activity and the abode of the 
highest civilization are situated between the lines of average 
annual temperature of forty and seventy degrees. These 
countries are Norway and Sweden, Denmark, Germany, 
Great Britain and Ireland, the Netherlands, France, Spain, 
Portugal, and Italy. The winter temperature of these lands 
is between twenty and sixty degrees, and the summer tem- 
perature between fifty and eighty degrees. 

Turning now to the western side of the Atlantic, it is evi- 
dent that these conditions are nowhere reproduced with ex- 
actness. A glance, however, suffices to show that the United 



§ 2] Terriperatuye of America and Europe 



States, as a whole, enjo3?s about the same annual tempera- 
ture as western Europe as a whole, but the winters are much 
colder and the summers are much warmer in America than 
in Europe. A further remarkable fact is also revealed : the 
annual and the winter temperature lines turn sharply to the 
south as they approach the American coast and become 
pinched together. The summer lines, on the other hand, 
pursue a more direct westerly course, and some of them 
even trend to the northwestward. The southward trend of 



Tempera- 
tures of 
America and 
Europe com- 
pared. 
Shaler's 
United States^ 
I. 9. 23. 



AfEST 60 FROM 40 GREENWICH 



k^d BETWEEN nnnnriipsf*^^ji 

NDER 40 F 1 40 i. 50 I II III) II II I 50 4 60 '^ 




ARCTIC CIRCLE 




Lines of equal temperature, annual 

the two former sets of lines indicates that the valuable por- 
tions of eastern North America are far to the south of the 
corresponding portions of European* lands. For example, 
the southern end of Greenland and the entrance to Hudson 
Strait are in the same latitude (sixty degrees north latitude) 
as the southern end of Sweden, but the winters are very 
much more severe in the former than in the latter. The 
cause of the failure of many early colonies is now evident. 
The old voyagers were ignorant of this great difference in perature. 
the climates of Europe and America ; they expected to find 
similar conditions prevailing on both sides of the Atlantic. 



Effects ot 
this differ- 
ence in tem- 



4 



The Land and its Resources 



[§2 



They were further led into error through the fact that their 
explorations were made in the summer, when the climatic 
conditions of the two sides of the North Atlantic most 
nearly resemble one another. For instance, Weymouth, 
who visited the coast of Maine in the summer, found a 
temperature which resembled that of southern France ; but 
the colonists who came over in consequence of his favorable 
reports found a winter temperature like that of northern 
Norway. 

Furthermore, the charts give average temperatures, and 
in this way tell only a portion of the story ; for the extremes 




Lines of equal temperature, February 

ot heat and cold are much greater on the western than on 
the eastern side of the Atlantic. For example, Savannah 
has a mean winter temperature not unlike that of Cadiz, in 
Spain. The actual climate, however, is very different, as 
there are frosts at Savannah and none at Cadiz. It follows 
from this that tender trees, like orange trees, will thrive in 
the vicinity of Cadiz, but will be killed or seriously injured 
in the country around Savannah. 

This difference in the winter temperature of the two sides 



§3] 



Temperature of the United States 



5 



of the North Atlantic is easily explained : the warm cur- Cause of the 
rents of the North Atlantic bear the heat of the Gulf of difference. 
Mexico and the tropical regions of America away from the 
eastern coast of that continent and give it to the western 
coast of Europe. Moreover, the prevailing winds of North 
America are from west to east, — they are cold in winter 
and spring, and increase the difference in temperature 
caused by the action of the ocean currents. 

3. Temperature of the United States. — The conditions 
as to currents of air and water on the western coast of the 
United States are like those which prevail on the western 




10<( tONGITUOE 80 



Lines of equal temperature, August 

coast of Europe. A study of the temperature charts dis- 
closes the fact that the lines, as they approach the Pacific 
shore, spread out to a very marked extent. Thus the line Temperature 
of mean annual temperature of forty degrees reaches the 
Pacific near the sixtieth parallel, fifteen degrees farther 
north than it leaves the Atlantic. The case is even more 
marked as to the winter temperature, as the line of thirty 
degrees leaves western Europe and western America in 
nearly the same parallel. The summer temperatures of the 



of the Pacific 
coast. 



6 



The Land and its Resources 



[§3 



Tempera- 
ture of the 
Mississippi 
basin and 
Atlantic 
coast. 



Extremes of 
temperature. 



Political re- 
sults of cli- 
matic condi- 
tions. 



Pacific slope, however, are on the whole higher than those 
of western Europe. 

In the interior of the two countries the difference is 
widely marked. A mountain barrier, the Cordilleran sys- 
tem, traverses the American continent from north to south, 
and effectually prevents the winds of the Pacific slope from 
moderating the climate of the interior ; but there is no such 
mountain barrier in western Europe. The winter lines, on 
leaving the Pacific coast, trend sharply southward, and the 
interior of the continent from the one hundredth meridian 
eastward has practically the same average temperatures as 
the Atlantic coast region in the same latitudes, but the ex- 
tremes of temperature are even greater in the interior than 
on the eastern seaboard. The cold winds from the Cordil- 
leras and from the frozen regions of Canada sweep down 
from the west and north, and produce great intensity of 
cold. On the other hand, in the summer time, hot winds 
frequently blow from the south and raise the temperature 
to a very high degree. The effects of these cold and warm 
" waves," as they are generally termed, are very great ; the 
mercury is occasionally frozen in Wisconsin and Michigan, 
and even on the Gulf of Mexico the thermometer at Galves- 
ton, Texas, has been known to fall fifty-four degrees in 
eighteen hours. The hot waves often produce extremely 
high temperatures, reaching one hundred degrees in Iowa 
and the neighboring states, and frequently attaining ninety- 
two and over even on the shores of the Great Lakes, whose 
waters moderate the heats of summer. 

The pinching together of the temperature lines on the 
eastern coast means that within the comparatively limited 
area stretching from the St. Lawrence to the Gulf of Mexico, 
agricultural conditions prevail which in the Old World are 
associated with regions extending from the North Cape to 
the Desert of Sahara. Each group of colonies and states 
has had its own industries, habits of living, and modes of 
thought. This fact has exerted its influence by dividing 
the people of the United States into sections and, to a 



§ 4] Rainfall 7 

great extent, has determined the poHtical history of the 
nation. 

4. Rainfall. — The temperature of a country determines Effects of 
its asrricultural produce : thus Indian corn demands a good temperature 

. , , ., Ml 1 • -ii and of rainfall 

degree of heat, while cotton will not thrive without a greater compared, 
intensity of heat. Corn, furthermore, is peculiarly sensitive 
to frosts, and will not ripen where they occur early in the 
autumn. Of equal importance is the amount and distribu- 
tion of moisture. If the rainfall is excessive, the cotton 
plant makes a rank growth, or becomes so choked with 
weeds that it will not grow at all ; but if it does not have 
abundant moisture, it will not thrive. Corn, on the other 
hand, absorbs moisture from the air, and will grow in seasons 
of drought, when other plants perish. 

Experience has shown that an annual rainfall of at least Importance 
twenty inches is essential to profitable agriculture. It is of amount 

, , , r • /• 1 1 and distnbu. 

true that a large number of important food plants, as corn, ^^^^ of 
will thrive on a less amount of moisture provided it is well moisture, 
distributed. Unfortunately, however, as the average rainfall . 
decreases below twenty-five inches, the variation in the pre- 
cipitation increases out of all proportion to the total amount. 
A diminution of five inches in any one year would make little 
difference in a region of thirty inches of average rainfall, but 
it would be fatal to the year's crops in a region of twenty 
inches of annual precipitation. Cultivation is only cer- 
tain where the average rainfall is over twenty-five inches ; 
although it is possible, but hazardous, in regions of twenty 
inches. Districts of from ten to twenty inches of rainfall 
are suited, as a rule, to grazing, but below ten inches vegeta- 
tion of a valuable sort practically ceases. On the other hand, 
a rainfall much exceeding fifty inches produces a rank growth 
harmful to most plants suited to the soil and climate of the 
United States, although a few plants, as rice and the sugar 
cane, demand a large amount of moisture. Regions of over 
sixty inches of rainfall are suited only to these plants, but 
cotton will thrive when the rainfall is as much as fifty-five 
inches, and it demands as much as forty inches. 



8 



The Land and its Resources 



[§5 



Distribution 
of rain in the 
United 
States. 



District of 
scanty rain- 
fall. Shaler's 
United States, 
1,17. 



Rainfall at 
the Pacific 
coast. 



Irrigation. 



An examination of the map showing the average annual 
rainfall of the United States shows us that the country east 
of the one hundredth meridian enjoys an abundant rainfall, 
which gradually increases as one proceeds to the east and 
southeast. Extensive failures of crops are rare, although 
they sometimes occur from a lack of rain during the grow- 
ing season ; failures from an excess of moisture are even 
more rare. 

West of the one hundredth meridian, especially in the 
summer, the rainfall rapidly decreases toward the west and 
southwest — the temperature rising as the rainfall declines. 
In this way are produced large areas of hot and arid lands 
ill fitted, or not fitted at all, to cultivation, or even to graz- 
ing, unless artificial irrigation is resorted to, excepting nar- 
row strips along some of the river valleys. The winters 
of this region are also longer and more severe than those 
of the country farther east. 

This district of scanty rainfall extends to the coast ranges 
of the Pacific. The valley lowlands of the Pacific, with the 
exception of the valley of the Colorado, enjoy, not merely 
abundant moisture, but high temperature in the river bot- 
toms, which rapidly diminish as the altitude increases. 
The result of these conditions is a marvelous cultivation ; 
oranges and wheat grow within a comparatively short dis- 
tance of one another. There are arid districts on the 
Pacific coast, and the rainfall is not evenly distributed ; 
but the nearness of the rain-bearing mountains makes 
irrigation comparatively easy. The same system is also 
applicable to large regions east of the mountains, but the 
size of the districts requiring irrigation, and the distance 
of the water supply, make the carrying out of the enterprise 
exceedingly expensive. The returns from irrigated lands 
are usually large, and it is to be hoped that means will be 
found to develop the system in these warm arid regions 
west of the one hundredth meridian. 

5, Physical Formation of North America. — Students of 
history and geography have long been agreed that, withia 



§ 5J Physical Formatiojt of North America 9 

certain limitations as to rainfall and temperature, the physi- Influence of 
cal formation of a country, the character of its soils, artd the P'^y^"^^' f^^" 

. . . tors on civil- 

extent and variety of its mineral deposits exercise a decisive ization. 

influence on the life of the people which inhabits it. To 

insure the best development, a country must offer easy 

access to the outer world. This is especially true of new Necessity of 

regions, which require to be colonized from Europe. North ^^^^ °^ 

America, especially that portion occupied by the eastern 




Average annual rainfall 

half of the United States, offers every inducement to the 
voyager to reach its shores. The low-lying Alleghany sys- 
tem, which protected the colonies from the savage aborigines 
of the interior, has proved to be easily surmountable by the 
railroad of modern times. , , t, , 

(i) Value 

Before the days of steam, the Mississippi basin was diffi- of the 

cult of access. Many writers speak of the Mississippi and Mississippi 

the St. Lawrence as the keys or gateways to the continent, j-ence to coio^ 

In a limited military sense this is true; but only in a limited nists. 



lO 



The Land and its Resources 



t§6 



{2) Gateway 
on the con- 
tinent. 

(3) Pacific 
approaches. 



Description 
of Atlantic 
seaboard. 



sense. The St. Lawrence empties into the Atlantic far to 
the north, where the winters are severe. Its lower valley is 
very narrow and is beyond the home of Indian corn, the 
American food stuff, whose easy culture and great returns 
made colonization farther south comparatively easy. The 
lower St. Lawrence is in reality a fiordlike arm of the sea, 
and is navigable — though with peril — by seagoing ships. 
At Montreal, the seagoing vessel is stopped by a rocky bar- 
rier — the Lachine Rapids. It was easy for the Indian 
trader or the soldier to evade this and other obstacles to 
the interior ; but it was difficult for the colonist to transport 
his family, implements, and supplies to fertile regions on the 
southern shores of the Great Lakes. Besides, the St. Law- 
rence is frozen over for one half of the year, and ice closes 
the lakes to navigation for nearly an equal period. The 
Mississippi is not frozen except in its northern portion, and 
its course is not barred by rocks for thousands of miles ; but 
it offered no less insuperable obstacles to the colonists in its 
tireless current, winding course, and recurring shallows. The 
real gateway to the interior was from the Atlantic seaboard 
of the United States, through the passes of the Alleghanies 
or around the southern extremity of that mountain system. 

The Pacific coast is less inaccessible. The Golden Gate 
leads to the great lowland valley of the Sacramento and the 
San Joaquin ; the Columbia affords access to fertile valleys, 
and Puget Sound opens up another region to the colonist. 
The Pacific slope, however, was far removed from the colo- 
nizing centers of Europe, and its first settlers came, as a 
matter of fact, overland from Mexico, and not by water 
from Europe. Hundreds of miles of rugged mountains 
separate this region from the Mississippi basin. We will 
now examine the three geographical divisions of the United 
States more in detail. 

6. The Atlantic Seaboard. — This section extends from 
the water parting which divides the rivers falling into the 
Atlantic from those flowing into the Mississippi and St. 
Lawrence. It is about four hundred miles wide and two 



§ 6] The Atlantic Seaboard 1 1 

thousand miles long. It possesses sufficient rainfall, and a Shaier's 
range of temperature such as is found on the other side of ^"'f^^^^^^^^ 
the Atlantic from the Arctic Circle to Cape de Verde on the 
western coast of Africa. It is protected on the west by 
the Appalachian mountain system, which extends from out- 
side the limits of the United States to central Alabama. 
Never more than four hundred miles in width, the Appala- 
chians are divided into sections lengthwise by fertile valleys 
more than six hundred miles in length, extending southward 
from New Jersey to North Carohna. The western range 
(usually termed the Alleghanies) seldom rises to more than 
five thousand feet, and is generally fit for the plow. The 
eastern range (sometimes called the old Appalachian chain) 
is higher, and interspersed in all directions with fertile 
valleys. 

The most important breaks in this long chain are those Passes of the 
between the Hudson and the St. Lawrence by Lake Cham- Appalachian 
plain, and between the Hudson and the Great Lakes by the 
valley of the Mohawk. The most important river of this 
region is the Hudson, which is really an arm of the sea or a 
tidal river. For more than one half of its length, it lies 
between high banks, and the influence of the sea is felt even 
above the mouth of the Mohawk. The low elevation of these 
breaks in the Alleghanies can be best understood, perhaps, 
from the statement that a rise in the sea level of one hun- 
dred and fifty-two feet would convert all the country east of 
the Hudson and Lake Champlain into an island, and a 
similar rise of four hundred feet would separate from the 
continent all that tract included between the St. Lawrence, 
the lower Hudson, the Mohawk, and the Atlantic. The 
Hudson River and the valley of the Mohawk were plainly 
provided by nature to serve as a means of communication 
between the fertile lands of the Ohio valley and the sea. 
Other passes, as Cumberland Gap, lead over the Alleghanies, 
but none have these easy grades. The seaport which con- 
trols the commerce of the Hudson is necessarily the greatest 
business center of the Atlantic seacoast. 



12 



The Land and its Resources 



[§7 



Natural 
resources. 



Character- 
istics of the 
interior 
basin. 
Shaler's 
United 
States, I, 
ch, iii. 



The Ohio 

valley. 



The region extending from the AUeghanies to the sea is 
on the whole of remarkable fertility. Near the coast are 
salt marshes, which are at present of little use. Between the 
mountain crest and the low-lying sea area, there is a sudden 
break in the continuity of the plain. This point is usually 
marked by falls in the rivers, which furnish, from Virginia 
northward, unrivaled water power for the turning of the 
machinery of mills. The whole region is well forested and 
suitable to the growth of wheat, corn, tobacco, and cotton. 
It contains some of the richest coal fields and beds of iron 
in the world. Everywhere splendid harbors, sheltered in- 
land bays, and navigable rivers laid open the country to the 
seventeenth and eighteenth century colonist, and, in our 
own day, afford outlets for the products of the country. 
Great as are the natural advantages of the Atlantic slope, 
those of the Mississippi basin are even greater. 

7. The Mississippi Basin. — This section extends from 
the crest of the AUeghanies to the crest of the eastern divi- 
sion of the Cordilleran system, or the Rocky Mountains, as 
they are usually termed. It contains not far from one 
million square miles of land, nearly all of which is suitable 
to the uses of man. It is a nearly level area, sloping gently 
from the west and the east to the center, and from the north 
to the Gulf of Mexico. It is for the most part a table-land, 
varying from six thousand to three hundred feet above the 
sea level, trenched by flood-plain valleys along the paths of 
the principal rivers. With the exception of the flood plain 
of the Mississippi below the thirty-sixth parallel, the river 
bottoms are narrow, and the whole basin is free from the 
diseases and dangers of low-lying countries, to a degree 
equaled by no other very great river basin. A better idea of 
its vast size may be gathered from the statement that the 
distance from the Gulf of Mexico to the mouth of the Ohio 
is eleven hundred miles, and from that point to Pittsburgh 
is fully one thousand miles more. 

Measured by the amount of water contributed to the 
main stream, the Ohio is the largest branch of the Missis- 



§ 7] The Mississippi Basin 1 3 

sippi. A common misconception is to regard the Ohio val- 
ley as including only the portion north of the river, probably 
because of the situation of the state of Ohio. In reality, 
the valley of the Tennessee is as much a part of the Ohio 
basin as the valley of the Allegheny. This basin is the 
richest single division of the continent : the temperature is 
practically the same as that of the Atlantic slope ; the rain- 
fall is abundant ; the soil is fertile and admirably suited to 
the production of corn and wheat, and the mineral resources 
are exceedingly rich. This basin was forest-clad at the 
coming of the whites, but there were large spaces of cleared 
land which could be at once used by the settler. 

West of the Wabash, one of the tributaries of the Ohio, The prairies 
there were no trees except in the river bottoms. This was 
owing to the Indian practice of burning the grass to provide 
fresh fields for the buffaloes or bisons. There is nothing in 
the natural condition of this treeless region as far west as 
the one hundredth meridian to prevent the growth of trees, 
and already they are springing up around the homesteads 
of the dwellers in those districts. West of the one hun- 
dredth meridian, until the slopes of the Rockies are reached, 
the rainfall is too scanty for tree life, and this is true of the 
Great Basin between the Rocky Mountains proper and the 
Cascade and Sierra Nevada ranges. The treeless region 
from the Wabash to the one hundredth meridian, including 
the valley of the upper Mississippi and the Missouri, is ad- 
mirably fertile and suited to the growth of corn and wheat, 
the latter in the northern portion. The winters are severe, 
the summers are often hot, and the rainfall is sometimes not 
sufficient for the growing plants. Taking everything into 
consideration, however, this district is the best wheat and 
corn country in the world. There are also large deposits of 
coal, and most valuable mines of iron, copper, lead, and 
zinc. 

The soil of the lower Mississippi valley is exceedingly fer- Lower Mis- 
tile, the rainfall is abundant, and the climate is suited to the sissippi vai- 

Iev» 

growth of plants which require a good deal of moisture, as 



14 The Land and its Resources [§ 8 

cotton and the sugar cane. The flood plain has been sub- 
dued by the erection of dikes, known locally as levees, and 
only about six thousand square miles ot this fertile region is 
too swampy for redemption, except at great cost. Taken 
all together, and weighing the advantages and disadvantages, 
it may safely be said that there is no other land of its size on 
the earth's surface so admirably suited to the purposes of 
man as the basin of the Mississippi. 
Resources of 8. The CordiUeran Region. — The Cordilleran system 
the Cordii- occupies the whole of the United States west of the one 
Shaier's^ "*^ " hundred and fifth meridian, with the exception of the upper 
UnitedStates, valley of the Missouri and the valley lowlands of the Pacific 
I, ch. iii. slope. It is fully one thousand miles wide on the forty-sec- 

ond parallel. The mineral resources of this district are 
great and varied ; they comprise gold, silver, copper, lead, 
tin, iron ores, and coal. The climate is healthy ; but it is too 
dry for agriculture, except by irrigation, which has yielded 
large returns wherever tried. The Great Basin in the in- 
terior has an altitude of four thousand feet and over ; its 
excessive dryness renders portions of it unfit for pasturage. 

The Pacific coast district includes the valley lowlands of 
the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers and of the Columbia 
and Willamette rivers. The temperature of Southern Cali- 
fornia is singularly uniform, but in the lowland valley of the 
Sacramento and San Joaquin the heat is often oppressive. 
No rain falls in the summer, but the annual rainfall on the 
whole is abundant, and the country admirably suited to irri- 
gation. Almost any crop can be grown, as wheat, oranges, 
olives. The mineral resources are great, with the exception 
of iron ; gold, especially, is abundant 

The valley of the lower Columbia enjoys a uniform tem- 
perature and abundant moisture ; indeed, in places the rain- 
fall is excessive and the climate more nearly resembles that 
of England than does that of any other portion of America. 
The soil is deep and fertile, and the forest covering admira- 
ble and of great value. Little has been done as yet to 
develop its mineral resources. 



§9J 



Adaptability of the Continent 



15 



9. Adaptability of the Continent. — The agricultural and 
the mining regions are arranged in such a manner that the 
greater portion of the country is suited to varied occupa- 
tions, which are necessary to give the best results in the 
growth of a race. The climate is also suited to Europeans. 
Formerly, it was the habit of foreign writers to picture the 
American as a thin, lanky man, quite inferior physically to 
his European ancestor. The application of scientific methods 
to this problem has dispelled this as well as other delusions 
of a less critical age. 

During the Civil war, thousands of soldiers in the Union 
armies were carefully measured. These men were drawn 



Effect of this 
environment 
on men of 
European 
origin. 
Shaler's 
United States, 
II, ch. ix; 
Winsor's 
America, IV, 





Height 

(Inches) 


Weight 
(Pounds) 


Chest (Inches) 


Nativity 


Full 
inspiration 


After 
inspiration 


New England 
Middle States 
Ohio, Indiana 
England 
Ireland 
Germany 


67.8 

67.5 
68.1 
66.7 
66.9 
66.6 


139 
140 

145 

139 
140 


36.7 

37-0 
37-5 
36.9 
37-5 
37-2 


34.1 

34-3 
34.9 
34-3 
35-2 
34-7 



from all portions of the country, and also included thousands 
of recent immigrants from Great Britain, Ireland, and Ger- 
many. The results of these measurements were published 
in a remarkable book, from which the above table has 
been compiled. It will be seen that the American, instead 
of being the tall, thin-chested, and light-weighted man he is 
always described as being, is practically as heavy and as stout 
as the newcomers from Europe ; he is slightly taller, but 
only slightly. 

When one considers all these things, — the climate and Conclusion, 
the rainfall of the United States, its physical features, its 
fertile soils and magnificent water powers, its inexhaustible 
mineral resources, and the effect of this wivironment on the 



l6 TJie Land and its Resources 

physical body, — one must admit that the European race has 
gained by its transfer from its ancient home to the soil of 
the United States. 



SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS AND TOPICS 

§§ 2, 3. Temperature 

a. Give the differences in temperature between Europe and North 
America, and their causes. 

b. Has either continent decided advantage over the other in tem- 
perature, and why? 

c. What places in the United States have the same annual tempera- 
ture as northern Spain? the same winter temperature? the same 
summer temperature? 

§ 4. Rainfall 

a. Show the connection between the mode of sustenance of a people 
and its civilization. 

b. Represent upon an Outline Map the distribution of rain in' 
the United States, and state its results. 

c. Economic study : " Statistics of Irrigation on Pacific Coast." 



§ 5. Physical Formation 

a. Compare Europe and North America, as to ease of access. 
p. Describe the different natural approaches to the North American 
continent, and compare their excellence. 



§ 6. Atlantic Seaboard 

a. If all the natural resources of the Atlantic seaboard were utilized, 
how many different kinds of employments would be possible to its 
inhabitants? 

b. What effect would free trade have upon diversity of occupation? 

c. Can you find an argument in this section for or against free trade 
in the United States? 

§ 7. Mississippi Basin 

a. Make a written comparison of the Mississippi basin and the 
Atlantic seaboard. Explain fully the advantages of the former. 

b. What are the distinguishing characteristics of the three sub- 
divisions of the Mississippi basin? 



Qiiestioiis and Topics \'J 



§ 8. CORDILLERAN REGION 

a. Give a general description of the Cordilleran region. 

b. Name and characterize its subdivisions. 



§ 9. ADAFrABILITY OF THE CONTINENT 

a. Give the testimony of statistics as to the influence of the condi- 
tions of the American continent upon European races. 

General Questions 

a. Present the materials of this chapter in the form of a digest. 

h. Assign the three following subjects: "Temperature," " Rainfall," 
" Physical Formation of the United States," individually to members 
of the class for reading in the special accounts and elsewhere ; let 
each put topical analysis of his results in the form of a report either 
written or oral. 



CHAPTER I 

DISCOVERY AND EXPLORATION, 1000-1600 

Books for Consultation 

General Readings. — Higginson's Larger History, 27-108; 
Thwaites's Colonies, 20-32, 36-42 ; Gay's Bryant's Popular History, 
I, 118-200. 

Special Accounts. — Markham's Columbus; C. K. Adams's Co- 
hmtbus (M. A.^) ; Winsor's America, I, 69-75, H* ^"23? ' 29-152, 
231-283, 473-498, HI, 1-7, IV, 5-1 1, 47-62, 105-130; *Winsor's 
Colufnbus ; *Fiske's Discovery of America ; Lowery's Spanish Settle- 
vients ; Parkman's Pioneers of France (ed. 1887), chs. vii-ix ; Froude's 
English Seamen ; Bourinot's Story of Canada ; *Corbett's Sir Francis 
Drake ; Channing's United States, I, chs. i-v. 

Sources. — Higginson's American Explorers ; American History 
Leaflets; Old South Leaflets ; *Hart's Contemporaries; *Payne's Eliz- 
abethan Seamen. 

Maps. — The best collection of facsimiles for the use of students 
is Ruge's Die Entwickelung der Kartographie (published by Peter- 
mann, Alitteilungen, erganzungsheft, No. 106, price $2.00). Other 
collections are Winsor's America, Vols. I, II, III, and IV ; Winsor's 
Columbus and his Cartier. 

Bibliography. — Channing and Hart, Guide to American History, 
§§ 56 a, 56 b (General Readings), §§ 78, 81-90, 92-95 (Topics and 
References). 

Illustrative Material. — Irving's Columbus (abridged edition) ; 
Prescott's Conquest of Mexico &x^A Conquest of Peru ; Lummis's ii)>rt'«- 
ish Piojteers ; Wallace's Land of the Pueblos; Yule's Marco Polo; 
J. I. Lockhart's Memoir of Bernal Diaz. 

Longfellow's Discoverer of the North Cape, Skeleton in Armor 
and Sir Humphrey Gilbert; Lowell's Columbus; Tennyson's Colum- 
bus; Kingsley's Westward Ho ! ; Coo\>ex's Mercedes of Castile ; Simms's 
Vasconselos. For other titles see Guide, § 36 a. 

■^ '■' Makers of America" series, and so throughout these lists of references 

18 



looo] 



Discovery and Exploration 



19 



DISCOVERY AND EXPLORATION, 1000-1600 



10. Voyages of the Northmen. — It is reasonably certain 
that the hardy seamen of northern Europe — the North- 
men, as they are called — were on the coasts of North 
America in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. The evi- 
dence for their voyages is found in certain old documents 
called " sagas." Some of them relate the stories of kings 
and heroes ; others, as those which describe the discovery 
of Vinland or America, represent traditions that had been 
handed down by word of mouth for generations. At length, 
some one wrote the story on parchment, and, in this way, 
preserved the knowledge of these wonderful voyages for the 
use of students of later centuries. Of course, it is probable 
that the writers of the sagas forgot or misplaced the exact 
details of these far-off voyages. It is also unfortunate that 
many of the original manuscripts of the sagas relating to 
America were destroyed by fire in the eighteenth century, 
and we know them only through copies which happened to 
be preserved in other places. The loss of the originals is 
especially to be regretted, because some of these copies 
contain passages which appear to have been inserted by 
the copyist. The most detailed account of the voyages to 
America is contained in a saga, usually termed the " Flatey 
Book," which was compiled after the other, sagas in the 
closing years of the fourteenth century. In this document 
the finding of Vinland is ascribed to a man named Biarni. 
All the other sagas agree in the statement that Leif, the son 
of Eric, discovered Vinland while on a voyage from Iceland 
to Greenland. Moreover, the account of the voyages to 
Vinland is plainly inserted in the Flatey Book, as it has no 
reference to what goes before or follows ; nor is Biarni's 
discovery even mentioned in any other Icelandic work now 
existing. Students, therefore, are compelled to discredit 
the statements in the Flatey Book, except as they agree 
with those in other sagas. The slight reliance to be placed 



The " sagas." 



Credibility of 
the sagas. 
*Reeves's 
Finding of 
Wineland. 



Credibility of 
the " Flatey 
Book." 
*Reeves*s 
Wineland. 



20 



Discovery and Exploration 



L§ 12 



The voyage 
of Leif Eric- 
son, A.D. 
looD. *Win- 
sor's Amer- 
ica, 1 , 61-69 ; 

Fiske's Dis- 
covery, 1, 164 ; 
American 
History Leaf- 
lets, No. 3. 



The New- 
foundland 
fisheries. 



Geographi- 
cal ideas 
of the 
ancients. 
*Winsor's 
<Colunibus ; 
Markham's 
Columbus. 



on this manuscript is the more to be regretted as it is this 
saga which contains the most detailed accounts of the voyages 
of the Northmen. 

There can be Httle doubt that Leif Ericson was the first 
Northman to see Vinland, and that he made this voyage in 
the year 1000, or just before, as it was made in the same 
summer in which another Northman sailed from Norway to 
Iceland ; and the date of the latter's voyage is tolerably 
well ascertained. It is almost certain that Vinland was 
some part of North America ; but as to its exact location, 
there is no definite information. 

These hardy navigators made many other voyages to Vin- 
land ; but gradually they ceased coming, and all memory 
of the western land faded away, except as it existed in old 
manuscripts which were known only to a few scholars. 

1 1 . English and French Fishermen. — It is probable that 
other European mariners were on the American coasts 
before 1492 ; but of their voyages there is not as much 
knowledge as there is of the expeditions of the Northmen. 
These later seamen were English and French fishermen 
who sailed across the North Atlantic to fish for cod off the 
shores of Labrador and Newfoundland. It is improbable 
that these early voyagers realized that the lands which they 
visited were portions of a new continent ; they thought that 
they were parts of European and Asiatic lands, and Green- 
land is so represented on the maps of that period. 

12. Early Geographical Ideas. — The idea that the earth 
was spherical in shape, and not flat, as had been taught in 
the Homeric poems, was held by many learned men among 
the ancients. For instance, Aristotle, a Greek philosopher 
who lived in the fourth century before the birth of Christ, 
had proved to his own satisfaction, by observations made 
during eclipses and in other ways, that the earth was round. 
This theory had been held by men who lived before Aris- 
totle ; but the idea seems to have been regarded as novel 
when he wrote. A most remarkable statement was made 
on the subject by another Greek writer, Eratosthenes, who 



1474] Ideas of Toscanelli, Behaim, and Coluinbns 2 1 



lived in the third century before Christ. His works are 
lost, but according to Strabo, a Roman geographer (b.c. 
40-A.D. 60), he wrote : " If the extent of the Atlantic Ocean 
were not an obstacle, we might easily pass by sea from 
Iberia to India, still keeping the same parallel, the remain- 
ing portion of which occupies more than a third of the 
whole circle. But it is quite possible that in the temperate 
zone there may be two or even more habitable earths." 

The globular theory of the form of the earth was preserved 
during the Middle Ages by the Arab philosophers ; it also 
appears from time to time in the writings of Christian 
authors. For instance, Roger Bacon, one of England's 
earliest and one of her greatest thinkers, refers to it. It 
was Bacon, too, who first interpreted famous passages in 
Seneca, that it was only a short distance from Spain to the 
Indies, to mean the distance westward across the Atlantic. 

13. Ideas of Tos- 
canelli, Behaim, and 
Columbus. — Among 
other scholars who 
took an interest in 
these matters was 
an Italian, Paolo 
Toscanelli ; to him 
Columbus wrote for 
advice (1474). Tos- 
canelli replied 
a long letter 
trated by a 
The precise date on 

which this' letter Toscanelli 

reached Columbus and the impression it left on his mind 
cannot be stated. The map has long since disappeared ; 
the representation of it given herewith is simply an attempt 
to show the relation of Toscanelli's ideas to the actual fact. 
There is, however, a map, or rather a globe, which presents 
the ideas of the period just preceding the discovery of 



Preservation 
of the theory 
during the 
Middle Ages. 
*Winsor's 
Columbus ; 
Markham's 
Coluynbus. 



with 
illus- 
map. 




1474] Ideas of Toscattelli, Behaim, and Columbus 23 

America. The maker was Martin Behaim, a German navi- Behaim's 

gator, who had already sailed alonar the shores of eastern g'ob^- W'"" 

■^ "l . sor s Colu7n- 

Africa. He completed the globe m the summer of 1492, 1,^^, 186-190; 

before he heard of Columbus's discovery. The portion of it Winsor's 

which relates to the subject in hand is here reproduced. ^^^"''^' ' 
Both Behaim and Toscanelli thought that the earth was about 
three fourths as large as it really is because they had no 




idea of the great masses of water which lie between western 
Europe and eastern Asia. One result of this error was to 
place Japan (called Cipango on Behaim's globe) where 
Mexico really is.' Looking at the facsimile of Behaim's 
globe, it is easy to understand what it was that Columbus 
tried to do when he sailed forth on his great voyage ; it 
is also easy to understand how he was led to believe that 
he had reached an outlying Asiatic land when, as a matter 
of fact, he was off the coast of Cuba. It is fortunate that 
this mistake arose, or Columbus would not have set out on 
his voyage. Japan is really about ten thousand miles west 



Columbus's 

mistaken 

theories. 



24 



Discovery and Exploration 



[§ 14 



Clough's 
Columbus. 



of Europe ; Columbus maintained that it was only three 
thousand miles west of the Canaries. It was difficult to pro- 
cure men and vessels for the shorter voyage ; it might have 
been impossible to obtain either the one or the other for 
such a tremendous venture as the real problem demanded. 
As it was, the task to which Columbus set himself was with- 
out precedent. For a thousand years wise men had believed 
the earth to be a ball, and that Asia might be reached by 
sailing across the Sea of Darkness ; until Columbus appeared, 
no one had deliberately set forth to test the truth of the 
theory : 

What if wise men, as far back as Ptolemy, 

Judged that the earth like an orange was round, 

None of them ever said, come along, follow me. 
Sail to the West and the East will be found. 



The voyage. 
*Winsor's 
Columbus ; 
Irving's 
Columbus 
(abridged 
ed.), 55-119; 
Fiske's Dis- 
covery, 1,419; 
American 
History Leaf- 
lets, No. I. 



14. Columbus's First Voyage, 1492. — On the 3d of 
August, 1492, the little fleet of three vessels passed out of 
the roadstead of Palos ; on August 24 and 25 the Peak 
of Teneriffe was in sight ; and, on September 3, the Cana- 
ries were behind them. Westward they sailed, wafted along 
by light easterly breezes, with every now and then a calm ; 
at one time the weeds of the Sargasso Sea were around 
them, and they steered northward to avoid them, and then 
westward again. On October 7, after they had been out of 
sight of land for more than a month, Martin Alonzo Pinzon, 
the captain of the Finta, induced the admiral to change the 
course of the fleet to the southwest. It was well that he did 
so. Had the vessels continued longer on their westerly 
course, they would have passed north of the Bahamas, out 
of sight of land, have become involved in the current of 
the Gulf Stream, and have reached the American shores in 
the stormy region of the Carolina coasts. As it happened, 
however, on the evening of October 11, Columbus saw a 
light in the distance, and at two o'clock the Finta, which 
was in advance, made land. When day dawned, the land 
was in plain sight ; it proved to be an island, called by the 



1498] 



Columbus' s Later Voyages 



25 



Indians Guanahani ; but which of the three thousand islands 
and islets of the Bahama group this island was, no one 
knows, or, in all probability, ever will know. Sailing 
thence, Columbus reached the northern coast of Cuba, 
and, doubling back on his course, discovered the island 
of Santo Domingo, or Espaiiola, as it was called at the 
time ; the Indian name was Haiti. After many adventures 
and great hardships, Columbus returned to Spain, having 
lost his largest ship off the coast of Espanola. At Barce- 
lona, he was received by Ferdinand and Isabella with great 
splendor. He had most wonderful stories to tell, which lost 
nothing in the telling ; he also had many interesting things 
to show them, — ornaments of gold, curious woods, and, 
above all, some natives of the Indian islands on the other 
side of the Ocean Sea. 

15. Columbus's Later Voyages. — A large expedition was 
at once fitted out, and Columbus sailed to take possession 
of the magic islands ; but his later career was not fortunate. 
There was little treasure to be found in the lands first occu- 
pied by the Spaniards, and Columbus's despotic temper, well 
suited to the explorer, proved a misfortune to the founder 
of a colony. Harshness and a failure to fulfill his promises 
led to rebellion. In 1496 he returned to Spain for re- 
inforcements. On this second voyage he had explored 
the southern coasts of Cuba and had discovered the island 
of Jamaica. 

The year 1498 saw him again on the western side of the 
Atlantic. This time he pursued a more southerly route, 
reached the northeastern corner of South America, and 
found himself in the mouth of a mighty river, — the 
Orinoco. The new land was plainly no outlying island 
of India, for the river was continental in magnitude. For 
a while Columbus was sorely puzzled, but only for a time. 
Suddenly, he made up his mind that the earth was not 
round as a ball, but was shaped like a pear, and that this 
mighty river flowed down from the terrestrial paradise which 
was situated at the stem end. Thence he sailed northward 



The second 
voyage, 1494. 
*Winsor's 
Colufnbus. 



The third 

voyage, 1498. 

*Winsor's 

Columbus ; 

Higginson's 

Explorers, 

31-50- 

New theory 
as to the 
shape of the 
earth. 
*Winsov's 
Columbus. 



26 



Discovery and Exploration 



[§15 



The fourth 
voyage, 1502. 
*Winsor's 
Columbus. 



to Santo Domingo. In 1500 he returned to Spain under 
arrest, to answer complaints which had been made against 
him by the Spanish colonists. 

In 1502 he was once more in the West Indies in search 
of a waterway to Cathay between Cuba, which he still be- 
lieved to be a i^art of the Asiatic mainland, and the new 




Map made by La Cosa, 1500 



continent discovered on his third voyage. He coasted the 
eastern shores of Central America from Honduras to the 
Isthmus of Panama ; he found no strait leading to China, 
but he heard vague rumors of a great body of water on the 
other side of the land along which he sailed. The reports 
made slight impression on his mind ; for was not the Indian 
Ocean there? — if only one could reach it. At last he aban- 
doned the attempt to find the waterway and, after suffering 



1498] 



The Cabot Voyages 



27 



great hardships, returned once again to Spain and there died 
in 1506, scarcely noticed by his contemporaries. 

16. The Cabot Voyages, 1497, 1498. — Meantime, other First Cabot 
explorers had not been idle. In 1497 John Cabot, born in ypy^^g^- H97- 

*^ . Winsor s 

Italy, but living in Bristol, England, sailed across the North America,\\\, 
Atlantic under a Hcense from Henry VII, the first of the 1-7; Fiske's 
Tudor kings. He made land far to the north of Columbus's '^"'^^^^''/.II. 
landfall, in the vicinity of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Our 
knowledge of his voyage is derived from the official docu- 
ments authorizing the expedition, and from letters written 



^_c.. 





L'CANEF.1 

Int.dil.T.rerdfODO; 



l'£(^uinociialis 



Map made by Bartholomew Columbus before 1502 
(Note connection between " Mondo Novo" and Asia.) 



by other Italians, then in England, to their employers or 
friends in Italy : there is no statement from John Cabot him- 
self now known to scholars. From these accounts it is pos- 
sible to state that the voyage was made in 1497, and that 
John Cabot, and not his son Sebastian, was the commander ; 
more than this cannot be asserted from contemporary evi- 
dence, not even as to the precise point of the American 
shore reached by the great navigator. There is in Paris a 
large engraved map which is supoosed to have been made 
by Sebastian Cabot, who may have sailed with his father 
in 1497, or may have remained at home in Bristol with the 
younger brothers. A reduced sketch of a portion of this 
map is given herewith. The map contains an inscription, 



Evidence for 
the first voy- 
age. Amer- 
ican History 
Leaflets, 
No. 9. 



The " Cabot 
map." Win. 
sor's Amer- 
ica, III. 



28 



Discovery and Exploration 



[§i6 




attached to what was probably intended to represent Cape 
Breton Island, that this was the first land seen — prima tierra 
vista. It is on this discovery of John Cabot that the English 
based their claim to the right to colonize North America. 



U97] 



The Namifig of America 



29 



17. The Naming of America, — Another Italian to visit 
America at an early day was Americus Vespucius, whose 
name is spelled in so many different ways in the original 
accounts that it is very difficult to recognize the real Ves- 
pucius. In one place it is given as Alberic, again it appears 
as Morigo, and again as Vespucci. It is certain that there 
was a man named Amerigo Vespucci or Americus Vespucius ; 
that he visited the northern coast of South America at an 
early time ; that he printed an account of what he saw ; 
and that he rose to high rank in the Spanish service. It is 
also certain that America was named in his honor ; but not 
much more is really known as to his connection with Ameri- 
can history. Some writers think that as early as 1497 he 
sailed along the shores of Florida even as far north as 
Chesapeake Bay; others believe that this early expedition 
was to the northern coast of South America ; more cautious 
students decline to recognize any particular voyage as having 
been made by him. It happened, however, that in 1504 he 
wrote an account of his experiences in the New World for 
the perusal of an Italian friend of his. This paper found 
its way to a little college which Duke Ren^ of Lorraine had 
established at St. Di6 in the Vosges Mountains. There, in 
1507, it was printed at the College Press with an introduc- 
tory part entitled Cosmographies Introductio. This was 
written by the teacher of geography in the college, a man 
named Martin Waldseemiiller, who preferred to be known 
on the title-page as Hylacomylus. It is probable that before 
writing this introduction Waldseemuller consulted his fellow- 
teachers, among whom was at least one admirer of Ameri- 
cus. Whoever may have first suggested it, the Introductio 
contains a proposal that the new-found world should be 
named America, in honor of the person whom Waldsee- 
miiller understood had discovered it, — retaining Columbus's 
names for the islands which the latter had brought to light. 
There is no reason to suppose that Waldseemuller and his 
comrades intended to lessen the honor due to Columbus. 
Probably they knew nothing of his voyage to the Orinoco, 



Americus 
Vespucius. 
Winsor's 
America, II, 
ch. ii, and 
* Columbus, 
538; Mark- 
ham's Colum- 
bus, 344. 



His letter of 
1504. Old 
South Leaf- 
/ets.X.No.S. 



Proposal to 
name the 
New World 
America. 
Winsor's 
America, II, 
146-152; 
Fiske's Dis- 
covery, II, 
129-145. 



30 Discovery and Exploration [§ i8 

for the Spanish government was very secretive as to the 
discoveries made by its mariners ; nor is there any reason to 
suppose that Americus Vespucius knew of their design. 
Acceptance The proposed name found favor before long and was placed 
of the name, q^ South America on the maps of that time. Later, when 
it became certain that the American continents were one 
and were not connected with Asia, the name spread over 
the whole New World. 

Nuc 5^0 be h^ partes funt lati'us Iu{lratcc/& alia 
quartapars per Americu Velputiu(vt {n fequeiiri 
bus audietur)inuenta eft/qua noil video cur quis 
iure vetet ab Americo inuentorc fagacis ingeni) vi 
AmcriV ro Amerigen quafi Amend terra / fiue Americam 
ca dicenda:cu bc Europa ^ Afia a mulieribus fua for 

tita fiiitnomina^Eius fitu & genus mores ex bis bi 
nis Americi nauigationibus quae fequuntliqaide 
inteiligidatun 

Facsimile of Passage in the Cosmographiae Introductio 



Vasco Nunez 18. Discovcry of the Pacific, 1513. — The discoverer of 
de Balboa. j.}^g Pacific was a Spanish adventurer named Vasco Nunez 

*Wmsor s j -n n , . 

America, II, Q^ Balboa, who IS usually called Balboa by writers of Eng- 
ch. iii; Hsh. He had come to the western world in search of easily 

cm^e^yU ^6"; acquired wealth, and found himself a bankrupt and a rebel. 
A man of great energy, he soon became the leader of rebels. 
One day, while on an expedition, an Indian chief, observing 
the greed of the Spaniards for gold, told them that beyond 
the mountains which lay inland was a great sea, on which 
were ships like those of the Europeans, and he declared that 
the lands bordering on this ocean abounded in gold and 
silver. Here was the opportunity for Vasco Nunez to re- 
cruit his fortunes and by a great exploit to atone for his 
the^Pacific° rebellion. On Sept. 25, 1513, he found himself on the crest 
1513. of the Cordilleras. At the base of the mountains glittered 



«Si3j 



Circumnavigating of the Globe 



31 



the waters of an unknown sea. The Isthmus of Panama 
extends from west to east; the new sea was therefore to the 
south of the isthmus. Accordingly, Vasco Nunez called it 
the Mar del Sur, or South Sea, to distinguish it from the 
Mar del Norte, or North Sea, as the Spaniards termed the 




Routes of the Discoverers 



Caribbean. P'or a long time the great ocean was known to 
writers of English as the South Sea, but now it is generally 
called the Pacific. This name was given to it by a Por- 
tuguese, Fernando da Magalhaens, whom we call Magel- 
lan ; he was the first European to reach it by water from 
the Atlantic. 



32 



Discovery and Exploration 



C§i9 



Vasco da 
Gama dis- 
covers a sea 
route to 
India, 1497. 



Cortereal on 
the coast of 
Labrador, 
1500. 



Cabral on 
the coast of 
Brazil, 1500. 



Magellan 
Strait, 1520. 
Winsor's 
America, II, 
eh. ix ; 
Lamed, 62. 



19. Circumnavigation of the Globe. — The Portuguese 
were among the most daring seamen of that time. Before 
Columbus ventured to cross the Ocean Sea, some of them 
had sailed along the western coast of Africa to the Cape 
of Good Hope; in 1497 "^^^ of their greatest captains, 
Vasco da Gama, passed the Cape of Good Hope, sailed 
through the Indian Ocean, reached Calicut in India, and 
returned safely home. He had found a sea route to India, 
which Columbus had failed to do. 

In 1500 another Portuguese mariner, Caspar de Corte- 
real, gained the shores of Labrador, and discovered the 
entrance to Hudson Strait, which it was hoped would prove 
to be a waterway leading to Cipango and Cathay. In the 
same year, still another Portuguese navigator, Pedro Alvarez 
Cabral, sailed from Portugal for India by the Cape of Good 

Hope. Steering 
i.'rf.il^rJ'Jii'l'i. somewhat to the west- 

ward of Vasco da 
Gama's track, he 
sighted the coast of 
Brazil to the south- 
ward Of the point 
which had probably 
been discovered by 
Spanish voyagers not 
long before. 

Nineteen years 
later, Magellan, Por- 
tuguese born and 
bred, but now in the 
service of Spain, 
sailed in search of a 
strait leading to the 
South Sea. On the 
28th of November, 
1520, he sailed out of the western end of the strait which 
bears his name and found himself on the Pacific. Steering 




Magellan 



1508] Mexico 33 

boldly across that great water, he discovered the Philippine Circumnavi- 
Islands, where he was killed in an encounter with the natives. 2^*'°" of the 

slobe. 

When his fleet left Spain, it had numbered five vessels ; of 
these one had been cast away, another had been carried 
home by a mutinous crew, and two more were now aban- 
doned. In the remaining vessel, the Victoria, the survi- 
vors made their way back to Spain around the Cape of 
Good Hope, circumnavigating the world for the first time. 

20. Florida, 1513. — The Spaniards had known of the Ponce de 
mainland of the United States at least since 1500, because Leon dis- 

covers 

the peculiar features of the continental outline are clearly Florida, 1513. 

shown on the early maps. The first Spanish voyager whose Winsoi's 

name is associated with the land is Ponce de Leon. In ii;i^ A^nenca, i, 

-" >-' 232-236. 
he sailed from the Bahamas to explore a northern region 

which was said to be rich in gold and silver, and to have 

a perfect climate. On Easter Sunday he anchored in sight 

of the coast not far from the present St. Augustine. He 

called the new land Florida, from the Spanish name for 

Easter, Pascua Florida. From this point he sailed around 

the southern end of the peninsula of Florida and traced the 

western coast as far north as Tampa Bay. 

In 152 1 Ponce de Leon again sought the shores of Florida First attempt 

and attempted to found a settlement on that coast : but the ^o found a 

1 •! colony Within 

venture ended in disaster. Sickness among his men, hostile united 
natives, and a serious wound drove him back ; he reached Cuba States, 1521. 
only to die. Thus ended the first of a long series of attempts to 
plant a colony within the present limits of the United States. 

21. Mexico. — The conquest of Cuba was undertaken Cuba and 
soon after 1508. As the Cuban natives could not provide Yucatan, 
the labor required by the Spaniards, vessels were sent off to 

the north and to the west to capture slaves. One of these 
slavers, driven from its course by winds and currents, 
reached the coast of Yucatan (15 17). This region had 
already been examined, but all remembrance of the earlier 
exploration seems to have disappeared. Mexico was soon 
afterward discovered, and its conquest intrusted to Her- 
nando Cortez (1519-21). The story of this wonderful 



34 



Discovery and Exploration 



[§24 



Conquest of 
Mexico. 
Winsor's 
America, II, 
ch. vi. 



The Atlantic 
coast. Win- 
sor's Amer- 
ica, II, 238- 
241. 



Voyage of 
Gomez. 
Winsor's 
America, II, 
241. 



Verrazano's 
voyage, 1524. 
Winsor's 
America, IV, 
5-9- 



Tlie map, 
Winsor's 
America, IV, 
26. The let- 
ter, Higgin- 
son's Ex- 
plorers, 60- 
69; Old 
South Leaf- 
lets, Vll, No. 
I, Gen, Ser., 
No. 17. 



episode lies outside the limits of this work -, it may be read 
in the homely words of Bernal Diaz del Castillo, whose 
Historia Verdadera, or True History of the Conquest, has 
been admirably rendered into English by Lockhart, or it 
may be studied in the more polished pages of Prescott, 
whose work is largely founded on the former. 

22. The Atlantic Coast. — In 1526 Lucas Vasquez de 
Ayllon led an expedition of five hundred persons, among 
them a few negro slaves, to Chesapeake Bay and began a 
settlement on or near the site of the later Jamestown. 
Fever attacked the colonists ; in a few months Ayllon and 
three hundred and fifty of the original five hundred were 
dead. The survivors abandoned the enterprise and returned 
to Santo Domingo, 

Meantime, not earlier than 1524, nor later than 1526, Este- 
van Gomez, one of the mutineers who had deserted Magellan 
on the threshold of his great discovery, is supposed to have 
sailed along the eastern coast of North America from Labrador 
to Carolina. If the voyage was made, which is at best doubt- 
ful, it was made in the service of the Spanish government. 

23. The Verrazano Voyage, 1524. — Giovanni da Ver- 
razano was a native of Florence, Italy. In 1524 he sailed 
for the American coasts under the direction of Francis I, 
king of France and the bitter enemy of Charles V, emperor 
and king of Spain. Verrazano sighted land somewhere near 
Cape Hatteras; he steered southward for a short time, then 
turned northward and left the coast in the vicinity of Nova 
Scotia. On his way north he entered New York and New- 
port harbors. The documents on which our knowledge of 
this voyage rests are a letter which Verrazano on his return 
wrote to the French king, and a map which his brother 
Hieronimo made in 1529. The map is preserved at Rome. 
Some students have pronounced the letter to be a forgery, 
and have argued that the map could have been constructed 
from the accounts of other explorers. At the present time, 
however, there is a disposition to believe in the genuineness 
of both pieces of evidence. 



1527] 



Coronadd's Expedition 



35 



24. "Wanderings of Cabeza de Vaca, 1527-36. — Panfilo 
de Narvaez, an active Spanish adventurer, resolved to 
conquer the region lying to the north of the Gulf of Mexico. 
He easily obtained the necessary permission from the Span- 
ish government, and in 1528 led a large and finely equipped 
expedition to the southern coast of the present United 
States. For years nothing more was heard of him or his 
men. At length (1536) one of the officers of the expedi- 
tion, Alvar Nuiiez Cabeza de Vaca, appeared at San Miguel, 
a little Spanish village on the western coast of Mexico ; with 
him were three companions, one of them a negro. He had 
a most curious and interesting story to narrate : for years 
he and his companions had wandered from one Indian 
settlement to another, regarded in one place as "great 
medicine men," in another as attractive curiosities. He 
had heard rumors of immense herds of wild cows — the 
buffalo or bison of North America ; he had also heard of 
wonderful cities in the interior, whose doorways were 
studded with precious stones. It was further reported to 
him that gold and silver were abundant in these " seven 
cities of Cibola." 

Attracted by these tales of treasure, Mendoza, the viceroy 
of Mexico, determined to ascertain the truth. He dis- 
patched on this errand (1539) a certain Friar Marcos de 
Nizza, who had already made his way on foot from Panama 
to Mexico. Friar Marcos passed the desert between Mexico 
and the pueblo region and saw one of the pueblos or villages 
from a distance ; he then fled for his life and reported his 
doings to Mendoza. On first reading the account of his 
journey, one is tempted to doubt his truthfulness ; a more 
careful perusal will convince the student that the worthy 
friar reported what he saw with accuracy, and carefully sepa- 
rated the accounts of what he actually saw from the stories 
which he had gathered from the natives along the route. 
His countrymen, however, exercised no such care ; soon 
Mexico resounded with most marvellous tales of the size and 
splendor of these cities in the interior. 



Narvaez 
lands on the 
coast of 
Florida, 1527. 



Journey of 
Cabeza de 
Vaca, 1528- 
36. Win- 
sor's Amer- 
ica, II, 243; 
Higginson's 
Explorers, 
73-96 ; Old 
South Leaf- 
lets, XI. 
No. I. 



Friar Marcos 
sees one of 
the " cities," 
1539. Win- 
sor's Amer- 
ica, 11,475- 
480. 



36 



Discovery and Exploration 



[§26 



Coronado 
conquers the 
pueblos. 
Winsor's 
America, II, 
480-498 ; 
American 
History Leaf- 
lets, No. 13; 
Hart's Con- 
temporaries, 
I, No. 24. 



Disajj- 
pointed 
hopes. 



Coronado 
rides north- 
ward to 
Kansas. 



25. Coronado's Expedition, 1540-42. — A great army was 
fitted out to conquer this wonderful land : the commander 
was Francisco Vasquez Coronado, who set forth abundantly 
supplied with everything needful for the success of the enter- 
prise. The army, with its baggage train, was too large to 
move rapidly, and Coronado, clad in gilded armor, went on 
in advance with a large force of mounted men. He reached 
and conquered pueblo after pueblo, but found no gold. 
These great Indian villages, which are so full of instruction 
and interest for the modern student, were equally full of dis- 
appointment for the Spanish conquerors. The cities of 
which so much had been said were merely Indian pueblos 
of sunburned clay ; nor were they as large as had been re- 
ported, for Friar Marcos had been deceived by the peculiar 
effect of the atmosphere in those rainless regions, which 
makes distant objects appear far larger than they really are. 
The jeweled doorways proved to be the hatchways leading 
from the flat roofs of the pueblos into the rooms beneath ; 
they were ornamented with the rough gem stones of the 
Rockies picked up in the neighborhood. Gold was not to 
be found, but report said that Indians living to the north- 
ward possessed it. Northward, therefore, went Coronado 
and a portion of his gallant band : they came across herds 
of wild cows so vast that they could not ride through 
them ; they also crossed immense treeless plains devoid of 
all landmarks to guide the traveler. The best-mounted 
men, who pushed on ahead of the others, probably 
reached the central part of the present state of Kansas. 
Everywhere the same hopeless tale, — there was no gold. 
The great expedition returned to Mexico, to the disap- 
pointment and dismay of every one, and Coronado, broken- 
hearted, disappears from history. While on the return 
journey to Mexico, an Indian woman ran away from Coro- 
nado's expedition ; nine days later she fell into the hands 
of another band of Spaniards, — men belonging to De 
Soto's army, which had marched overland from the Atlantic 
slope. 



I540] 



The French in the St. Lawrence 



37 



26. De Soto's Expedition, 1539-43. — Hernando de Soto 
had borne a part in the cruel conquest of Peru, which has 
forever blackened the memories of the Pizarro brothers. In 
1539 he landed on the western coast of Florida. He had 
with him five hundred and seventy men, magnificently 
equipped for the conquest of another Peru or another Mex- 
ico. In the course of the next three years he and his fol- 
lowers wandered along the eastern slopes of the Alleghanies 
as far north as the Savannah River ; thence southward and 
westward nearly to Mobile Bay ; from that point, proceeding 
northward, they reached the Mississippi near the site of the 
present city of Memphis. There they crossed the great river, 
and some of them penetrated westward nearly as far as the line 
of Coronado's return journey. De Soto died, and the sur- 
vivors of his expedition built boats on the banks of the Mis- 
sissippi, voyaged down that stream, coasted the shores of 
Texas, and reached the Spanish settlements in Mexico. Like 
Coronado's men, they, too, had found no treasure. Nothing 
but disappointment attended these early Spanish explorations 
of the southern portion of the present United States. 

27. The French in the St. Lawrence, 1534-1541. — The 
Spaniards confined their early efforts mainly to the country 
south of Delaware Bay ; the French, on the other hand, were 
more active in the northern regions. French fishermen had 
frequented the seas off Newfoundland, but the first voy- 
age to the Gulf of St. Lawrence of which we have trust- 
worthy information was made by Jacques Cartier in 1534. 
Sailing through the Straits of Belle-Isle, between Newfound- 
land and Labrador, he first explored the southern coast of 
that desolate land ; he then steered southward and discov- 
ered Prince Edward Island, which he named Isle St. Jean ; 
thence westward and northward to a harbor where the heat 
of the Canadian summer was so great that he named it Baie 
des Chaleurs. Passing on, he found the island of Anticosti, 
standing in the midst of a waterway which he hoped would 
prove to be the long-sought-for northwestern passage to 
India and Cathay. He then returned to France. 



De Soto 
lands on the 
coast of 
Florida, 
1539- Win- 
sor's Amer- 
ica, II, 244- 
254; Higgin- 
son's Ex- 
plorers, 121- 
140. 



He reaches 

the Missis- 
sippi, 1540. 



Cartier's first 
voyage, 1534. 
Winsor's 
America, IV, 

47-50; 
*Bourinot's 
Story of Can.' 
ada, ch. iii; 
Hart's Con- 
temporaries, 
I, No. 3S; 
Higginson's 
Explorers, 
99-104. 



38 



Discovery and Exploration 



[§28 



Cartier's 
second voy- 
age, IS35 ; 
Winsor's 
America, IV, 
50-55; Hig- 
ginson's Ex- 
plorers, 104- 
117. 



Ribault's 
colony on 
Port Royal 
Sound, 1562. 
Parkman's 
Pioneers, 33- 
47; Higgin- 
son's Ex- 
plorers, 143- 
159. 



The next year (1535) Cartier was again in the Gulf of 
St. Lawrence. This time he sailed boldly between Anticosti 
and Labrador, passed the heights on which Quebec now 
stands, and proceeded westward and southward until his 
further progress toward China was barred by a rocky barrier, 
which was later called the Lachine Rapids. On the northern 

bank was a high steep 
hill which Cartier 
named Mount Royal. 
Around its base, the 
head of navigation 
from the sea, there 
has grown up the city 
of Montreal. Cartier 
wintered on ship- 
board in the St. Law- 
rence, which he now 
knew to be a river ; 
in the following 
spring he returned to 
France. After an un- 
successful attempt to 
plant a colony in this 
region, the French 
sought the warmer re- 
gions of the southeastern portion of the present United States. 
28. The Huguenot Colonies, 1555-65. — Gaspard de 
Coligny, the leader of the French Protestants or Huguenots, 
determined to found a colony in the New World. In 1562 
he sent Jean Ribault, a gallant Huguenot seaman, to explore 
the shores of what are now the states of Florida and South 
Carolina. On May Day of that year he entered the mouth 
of the St. John's River in Florida, naming it the River of 
May. Thence he sailed northward along the shore, finding 
the natives everywhere friendly, the land and the climate all 
that could be .desired, and he and his comrades persuaded 
themselves that all the signs pointed to an abundant supply 




Cartier 



^555] Destruction of the French Colony 39 

of treasure. Some of his men volunteered to remain on the 
shores of Port Royal Sound, where they then were, to hold 
the country for the king of France until Ribault should 
return with recruits and supplies. They soon tired of the 
hardships of their Hfe in the New World. Embarking on a 
crazy, half-made boat they drifted slowly across the Atlantic, 
only to be captured by an English ship when within sight of 
the coast of France. 

Two years passed away, and again a French fleet ap- The colony 
proached the Carolina coasts (is 64). This expedition, on the River 

,• , J • , , . ,1 of May, 1564. 

which was designed to occupy the country, was commanded parkman's 
by Ren6 de Laudonniere. Finding Ribault's colonists gone, Piotuers, 48- 
he steered southward from Port Royal Sound and founded ^ ' ]^^^^ ^ 

•' _ Conte?npora- 

his settlement on the southern bank of the River of May ries, i, No. 
(the St. John's River). The colonists built a fort, which 36:_Higgin- 
they named Fort Caroline in honor of the young king, ^lo^ers i?q- 
Charles IX. Their further history was one series of mis- 166. 
fortunes : starvation, unfortunate conflicts with the natives, 
and mutiny followed each other in rapid succession. Some 
of the mutineers sailed away to plunder the Spanish towns 
in the West Indies, and they gave the Spaniards the first 
information of the existence of the French settlement in 
Florida. 

29. Destruction of the French Colony, 1565. — The Span- The 
iards were greatly alarmed when they learned of this French Spaniards 
settlement on the St. John's River. The Florida peninsula struction of 
formed one side of the channel through which the Spanish the colony, 
fleets frequently passed on their way to Spain, laden with 
the gold and silver of Mexico. Several vessels had been 96-130. 
lost on the coast of Florida or on the islands which fringe its 
shores ; but all attempts to occupy this region had hitherto 
been unsuccessful, Pedro Menendez de Avil^s, a Spaniard, 
had already begun to fit out an expedition to search for his 
son, whose ship had been lost in the vicinity of Florida, 
when news of the French colony reached Spain. He was 
now strongly reinforced and directed to destroy the French 
settlements. 



Parkman's 
Pioneers, 



40 



Discovery and Exploration 



[§30 



Hawkins and 
the French 
colonists. 



Founding of 
St. Augus- 
tine, and de- 
struction of 
the French 
fleet and 
colony, 1565. 
Winsor's 
America, II, 
260-278 ; 
Parkman's 
Pioneers, 
131-150. 



The English 
seamen. 



August, 1565, saw the gallant English seaman, Sir John 
Hawkins, voyaging homeward from the West Indies (p. 41). 
He, too, had heard of the coming of the Frenchmen, 
and entered the St. John's River to see how his fellow- 
Protestants were getting on. Pitying their misfortunes, he 
sold them one of his four vessels at their own valuation, and 
took in payment their heavy guns, no longer of use to them, 
as they were determined to abandon the fort. Hawkins 
then sailed away, and the colonists were to follow in a short 
time. Before the day of their departure arrived, however, 
Ribault entered the river's mouth with reinforcements and 
suppUes. This was on the 28th or 29th of August. For a 
moment all seemed bright at Fort Carohne ; " but, how 
oftentimes," wrote I^udonniere, " misfortune doth search 
and pursue us, even when we think to be at rest." On the 
4th of September, Menendez, with the leading portion of 
his fleet, sailed into the anchorage of Ribault's vessels at 
the mouth of the river. Uncertain as to the strength of 
the French, he passed out to sea again ; soon Ribault fol- 
lowed him with nearly all the vessels and found the Spaniard 
landing his colonists and stores at St. Augustine on a lagoon 
not far south of the mouth of the St. John's. Ribault failed 
to seize this opportunity to attack him and sailed away to 
await a more favorable occasion. A hurricane drove his 
fleet to the southward and cast his vessels on the sandy 
shores of Florida. Menendez, on his part, used his advan- 
tages to the utmost. Marching overland, he surprised and 
captured Fort Caroline with most of its inmates, and return- 
ing to St. Augustine intercepted the bands of shipwrecked 
and starving French seamen as they were proceeding along 
the shore to their countrymen. In a short time nearly all 
the Frenchmen were dead or on their way to Spanish 
prisons. 

30. The Elizabethan Seamen. — The discoveries of the 
Cabots appear to have aroused little interest in England 
at the time. English fishermen still frequented the fishing 
stations off Newfoundland; and in the years 1530-40 



1578] 



Drake's Voyages 



41 



William Hawkins and other English mariners made several 
slave-trading voyages to the western world ; but it is with 
the reign of Queen Elizabeth that modern English mari- 
time enterprise really begins. 

The earliest of this new race of English seamen was John 
Hawkins of Devonshire, one of the extreme western coun- 
ties of England, and noted for the hardihood and good 
fortune of its mariners. In 1562 he sailed with three ves- 
sels for the Guinea coast of Africa. There he procured 
three hundred negroes, most of whom he carried safely to 
Santo Domingo ; the Spaniards were glad to secure slaves 
at reasonable rates, and Hawkins returned to England with 
valuable cargoes. The venture was so profitable that in 
1564 he again set forth. On this second voyage he had 
four vessels : the Jesus, Solomon, Tiger, and Swallow. The 
first of these names seems to be a curious one for a slaver ; 
but in those days men saw no evil in the slave traffic. 
Hawkins was a man of religious instincts, he directed his 
men " to serve God daily," and had religious services twice 
each day on his own ship. This second voyage also 
proved very profitable, and it was on his homeward way 
that he called at Fort Caroline and succored the French 
colonists. His third voyage 
(1567) was not so fortunate: 
the Spaniards attacked his 
fleet, — treacherously, as he 
maintained, — and he escaped 
with only two of his five ves- 
sels. Among his commanders 
was Francis Drake, also a 
mariner of Devonshire. The 
events of that unhappy day 
were always present to Drake 
and drove him on to take 
such vengeance as few men 
have ever had on their enemies 
was known to Spanish writers as "The Dragon." 




John Hawkins 



John 

Hawkins's 
voyages, 
1562-67. 
Winsor's 
America, III 
60-64; 
*Hart's Con- 
temporaries, 
I, No. 29; 
Higginson's 
Explorers. 



for a hundred years he 



42 



Discovery and Exploration 



[§32 



65-73 ; 

Hart's Con- 
temporaries, 
I No. 30. 



Drake in the 31, Drake's Voyage around the World. — Drake made 
pacific. 1578. threg plundering voyages to the West Indies in the years 
America,\\]., ^5 70-73- Ini577 he Sailed froni Plymouth with four ves- 
sels on a more adventurous cruise than any Englishman had 
hitherto undertaken. His destination was apparently Egypt ; 
in reality he had conceived the daring project of sailing 
through the Strait of Magellan to attack the unprotected 
Spanish settlements on the western shores of America, and 
perhaps to capture a treasure ship on its way from Peru to 
Panama. Three of his vessels were either wrecked before 
he reached the Pacific or were carried home to England by 
their faint-hearted crews. In the fourth vessel, the Pelican, 
he entered the Pacific Ocean in October, 1578. Sailing 
into the harbors of Chile and Peru, he gathered an immense 
booty from the vessels at anchor in the several harbors, and 
from the terrified people on shore ; from one vessel he took 
fifteen hundred bars of silver. He then sailed in pursuit 
of a treasure ship, the galleon Cacafuego, of whose recent 
departure some unwitting Spaniard had told him. He came 
up with her before long and secured twenty-six tons of 
silver and eighty pounds of gold, besides coined money and 
plate ; he returned the captain of the galleon " a little 
linen " and a few necessaries and let him go. It was out 
of the question to return home by the route by which he 
had come ; the Spaniards would carefully guard the Strait 
of Magellan. Drake therefore sailed northward along the 
western shores of North America, until the ropes of his 
vessel's rigging became stiff with ice in the month of June. 
From this high northerly latitude he turned back and cleaned 
and repaired his vessel at some port of California not far 
from the Golden Gate, which forms the entrance to the Bay 
of San Francisco. He then sailed for England by the way of 
the Cape of Good Hope. The Pelicati was the first English 
vessel to enter the Pacific, and Drake was the first com- 
mander to carry his ship around the world. 

32. Sir Humphrey Gilbert. — Drake's voyage was the 
most daring adventure of the time ; but there were many 



I5S4] 



TJie Ralezh Colonists 



43 



other fearless English mariners. Among other adventurous Sir 
spirits were Sir Humphrey Gilbert and his kinsman, Walter Humphrey 

-rf , , ^-n -, 1 , • r » • • 1 •,. Gilbert, 1583, 

Ralegh. Gilbert sailed three times for America, but ill Hio-<^inson's 
fortune attended him. On his third voyage (1583), he Explorers, 
landed on the shore of Newfoundland, but his attempt to ^ 9-i74- 
reach the mainland was disastrous ; and on his return 
home the vessel in which he embarked went to the bot- 
tom with all on board. Our poet Longfellow has immortal- 
ized this incident : 



He sat upon the deck: 

The Book was in his hand. 
" Fear not," he cried, " Heaven is as near 

By water as by land," 

33. The Ralegh Colonists, 1584-90. — Gilbert's patent 
was transferred to his half-brother, Sir Walter Ralegh, now 
high in Queen Elizabeth's favor. Ralegh himself never 
visited the shores of the United States, but these expedi- 
tions are rightly associated with his name, as he planned 
them and furnished a large part of the funds to fit them 
out. The first expedition (1584) was designed for ex- 
ploration with a view to ascertaining the suitability of. the 
American lands for settlement by Europeans. The leaders 
were Philip Amadas and Arthur Barlowe, who explored the 
sounds of North Carolina, where the Indians cordially wel- 
comed them. They speedily returned to England and 
reported the new land to be " the most plentiful, sweet, 
fruitful, and wholesome of all the world." The natives they 
described as " void of all guile and treason, and such as live 
after the manner of the Golden Age." This wonderful 
region was named Virginia, and Ralegh was knighted for 
his trouble and expense. 

In 1585 Ralegh fitted out seven ships under the com- 
mand of Sir Richard Grenville, who fought the gallant fight 
in the Revenge " of the one and the fifty-three," splendidly 
turned into verse by Lord Tennyson from Ralegh's graphic 
description. He landed Ralph Lane and one hundred corn- 



Sir Walter 
Ralegh and 
his colonies. 
Winsor's 
America, III, 
ch. iv. 



Amadas and 
Barlowe, 

1584- 

Hart's Con- 
temporaries, 
I, No. 32; 
Higginson's 
Explorers, 
177-189. 



The colony 
under Lane, 
1585. 



44 



Discovery and Exploration 



[§34 



Drake suc- 
cors the 
settlers, 1586. 



"The Lost 
Colony," 
T587. Win- 
sor's Amer- 
ica, III, 113- 
116; Higgin- 
son's Ex- 
plorers, 189- 

200. 



Cause of the 
contest with 
bpain. 



panions on Roanoke Island and then sailed for England. 
The explorers soon aroused the anger of the natives, who 
refused longer to supply them with food. Starvation stared 
them in the face, when Sir Francis Drake, voyaging home- 
ward from one of his later expeditions to the West Indies, 
visited the settlement and carried them home with him ; 
this was in the summer of 1586. Not many weeks after- 
wards, Grenville again reached Virginia with recruits and 
supplies. He found Roanoke Island abandoned and re- 
turned to England, leaving fifteen men, with two years' 
provisions, to hold the post for England's queen. 

Ralegh's means were insufficient for these continual de- 
mands ; he summoned to his aid a body of merchants and 
men of influence, some of whom belonged to the later Vir- 
ginia Company. They fitted out a large expedition to make 
a settlement on the shores of Chesapeake Bay, as Roanoke 
Island seemed to be an undesirable spot (1587). Disaster 
attended the colonists from the moment they reached Amer- 
ica. For some unexplained reason they were landed on 
Roanoke Island instead of on the shores of Chesapeake Bay, 
and John White, the governor of the colony, returned to 
England in the vessel which had brought him over. The 
need must have been urgent, since White left in Virginia 
his daughter and his litde granddaughter, Virginia Dare, the 
first child born of English parents in America. He again 
reached Roanoke Island in 1590 and found scarcely a 
sign of the colonists, — only the abandoned houses and 
a word cut in the bark of a tree. They were never seen 
again, and all attempts to account for their disappearance 
have been unsuccessful. 

34. The Spanish Armada, 1588. — The Spanish govern- 
ment had good reason to be anxious. For years the mari- 
ners of England had attacked her colonies at a time when 
the two countries were at peace. Spain's existence as a 
sea power depended in great measure on the supply of 
treasure which she received from the mines of Peru and 
Mexico ; English seamen were yearly becoming more and 



1588] The Spanish Armada 45 

more active in America, and in Europe they were constantly 
threatening her communications between the Spanish penin- 
sula and her armies fighting with her rebellious subjects in 
the Netherlands. Many of the disputes between the two 
nations grew out of their reHgious differences, and the reli- 
gious quarrel greatly embittered their contests, even when 
it did not cause them. PhiHp II determined to send a 
great fleet — the Spanish Armada — against England ; it 
was to convoy a body of veteran soldiers under the Prince 
of Parma from the Netherlands, and these, with the soldiers 
brought in the ships from Spain, were expected to be suffi- 
cient to conquer England. The fate of the Spanish mon- 
archy on the one side, and of English freedom on the other, 
hung in the balance. In the presence of such mighty issues, 
the few English colonists in Virginia could receive scant 
attention, — every man and every ship were required for the 
defense of the English nation and institutions. 

The Spanish Armada should have left port in 1587, but Coming of 
Drake dashed into the harbors of Spain and burned the the Armada, 
storeships, without which the Armada could not sail : 
" Singeing the king of Spain's beard," he jocosely called it. 
At length, in 1588, the "Invincible Armada" appeared off Destruction 
the coast of England. The Spanish vessels were somewhat "^''^^ 

, ° ,.,,., 1 , Armada, 

larger than the English ships, but not so much larger as j^gs. old 
was formerly supposed to have been the case ; the most South Leaf 
important difference in the vessels themselves was in the ^^^ . ' 
much greater manageableness of the English ships, — they 
were shorter and less incumbered above water. Moreover, 
the English vessels were much the heavier armed. The 
greatest difference, however, was in the crews of the two 
fleets : the Spanish vessels were manned chiefly by soldiers, 
and their officers, with few exceptions, had had little service 
at sea ; the English ships, on the contrary, were manned 
largely by volunteers from the seafaring people of the coast 
towns ; they were led by men who had been fighting and 
beating Spaniards for the last twenty years. The world has 
never seen better sea fighters than Hawkins and Drake, 



46 



Discovery and Exploration 



[§34 



Establish- 
ment of 
England's 
sea power. 
Importance 
of th.s in 
American 
history. 



Frobisher and Grenville. Not only were the heavier guns 
of the EngHsh better handled than were the lighter guns of 
the Spaniards ; the superior speed of the Enghsh vessels 
gave their commanders the power to take such distances as 
suited their own armament. The very winds blew in Eng- 
land's favor, and storms continued the work of destruction 
so hardily begun by Drake and his " Men of Devon." 
Some of the Spanish vessels which escaped the English guns 
were wrecked on the coast of Ireland, where their crews 
fell an easy prey to the Irishmen. Of the one hundred and 
twenty Spanish ships which entered the English Channel, 
only fifty-four returned to Spain. The sea power of Eng- 
land was estabhshed, and Englishmen might found colonies 
in the unoccupied parts of America in comparative security. 
The breaking of Spain's naval power is, therefore, an inci- 
dent of the first importance in the history of the English 
colonies. The period of discovery and exploration closes 
with this great achievement, and the period of English and 
French colonization begins. 



SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS AND TOPICS 

§ lo. The Northmen 

a. Discuss the credibility of the sagas. 

b. Compare the voyages of the Northmen with the early explorations 
of the Phoenicians. 

§§ 12, 14. Early Geographical Ideas 

a. What proofs that the earth was round were discovered by the 
ancients ? 

b. What further facts can you ascertain about Toscanelli and 
Behaim ? 

§§ 13, 14. Columbus 

a. In what did Columbus's greatness consist ? 

b. Represent upon an Outline Map the tracks of Columbus's ships 
and the lands which he visited, putting dates upon each. 

§ 16. The Cabot Voyages 

a. What event opened the way for England's colonial empire, and 
■what events rendered its firm foundation possible ? 



Questions and Topics 47 

b. Does the text of this history confirm or disprove the proposition: 
" History is a collection of problems, not a statement of facts " ? Prove 
by quotations. 

§ 17. The Naming of America 

a. Is the name of a continent a matter of real importance? Give 
your reasons. 

b. Represent in colors upon an Outline Map the tracks of all Italian 
seamen mentioned in this chapter, and the lands they discovered, put- 
ting upon every track and every region the name and date. 

§§ 18, 19. Circumnavigation of the Globe 

a. When did the Pacific Ocean first become important in the com- 
merce of the world? Why? 

b. What long voyages preceded the circumnavigation of the globe? 
What discovery was made by each voyager? 

c. Represent in colors all these voyages upon an Outline Map with 
names and dates, 

d. Explain fully (by recitation) the map that you have made. 

§§ 20, 21. Florida and Mexico 

a. Keep in note-book a list of the different possessors of Florida from 
I513 to present time, giving to each date and manner of acquisition. 

b. What is meant by " strategic importance " ? Has the peninsula 
of Florida strategic importance? 

§§ 22, 23. The Atlantic Coast 

a. What effect did Verrazano's voyage have on the Spanish claim 
to Atlantic coast regions? 

b. By whom, and when, were about the same things done, and with 
what results? 

§§ 24-26. The Southwest 

a. How much of these sections is a connected story? Trace it upon 
an Outline Map and tell it. 

b. \\1iat importance had each event mentioned in these sections in 
establishing the Spanish claim to North America? 

§§ 23, 27-29. The French in North America 

a. ^Vhat American possession has France now? 

b. Bring to class a brief topical analysis of French history, 1492— 
1550. Who were the Huguenots? 

§§ 16, 30-34. The English in North America 
(See questions on § 16.) 
a. Bring to class a brief analysis of English history from 1497 '^° 'SS^* 



48 Discovery and Exploration 

b. If Magellan's ship circumnavigated the globe in 1520, why is so 
much said of Drake's voyage around the world ? 

c. Has the story of the Ralegh colonies any real importance in 
American history? Give reasons for your answer. 

d. What issues did the defeat of the Spanish Armada settle? 

Historical Gkography 

a. Represent in colors upon three Outline Maps "Territorial History 
of the Spanish, "-.he French, the English, in North America," coloring 
all territory discovered, explored, or settled by each nation before 1600. 
Place names and dates in proper places. Whenever, in the course of 
the narrative, territorial possessions changed hands, note such change 
on these maps and add new maps as often as clearness demands. 

b. Make a sketch map of your own state, marking on it changes in 
possession or settlement as you come to them in your study. Place 
names and dates in proper places. 

General Questions on Chapter as a Whole 

a. The work of what men, or group of men, mentioned in this chap- 
ter has had largest and most lasting effect upon history? Give your 
reasons. 

b. Select all disputed points mentioned in this chapter; in each case 
give the evidence for and against, and draw conclusion. 

c. Make digest of whole chapter, centralizing the topics as much as 
possible under inclusive heads, and inserting all dates. 

d. In recitation hour write this digest rapidly. 

e. Let written recitations be demanded upon any of the points 
touched in the Questions. 

Topics for Investigation by Individual Students 

The reports to be in the student's own words, and to be detailed 
accounts written from the sources. In these lists numbers in paren- 
theses refer to pages of this history containing references to original 
sources. 

a. The voyage of Leif Ericson (20, last one of first group). 

b. Columbus's first voyage (24, last one). 

c. The first Cabot voyage (27, last two groups). 

d. The Verrazano voyage (34, § 23, last group), 

e. Coronado's explorations (36, first group, last two). 

f. Cartier's first voyage (37, last two). 

g. Amadas and Barlowe's explorations (43, third group). 



CHAPTER II 

COLONIZATION, 1600-1660 
Books for Consultation 

General Readings. — Higginson's Larger History, 140-168, 192- 
202; Thwaites's Colonies, 35, 45-77, 81-87, 1 13-164, 196-202, 207- 
210, 246-252; Fisher's Colonial Era, 30-50, 62-72, S2-148, 1 77-190; 
Fiske's Civil Government, 140-151; Lodge's English Colonies, ^■3&%vca. 

Special Accounts. — Gay's Bryant's Popular History; Winsor's 
America ; Dexter's Story of the Pilgrims ; *Arber's Story of the Pilgrim 
Fathers; Fiske's Beginnings of New England; * Palfrey's iVifzt; Eng- 
land; Channing's United States, I, chs. vi-xix ; Roberts's New York 
(A. C.^); Brcwne's Maryland (A. C); Cooke's Virginia (A. C); 
*Campbell's Virginia ; Larned's History for Ready Reference, under 
names of states. On conditions in England : Gardiner's Students^ His- 
tory ; Higginson and Channing, English History for Americans. See 
also *Freeman's English People in its Three Homes; *Borgeaud's 
Rise of Modern Democracy ; *Bryce's American Commonwealth 
(abridged edition). On French colonization: Parkman's Pioneers 
(Ed. 1887) and La Sall^; Bourinot's Story of Canada, 

Sources. — * Records of Massachusetts Bay Company ; *Winthrop's 
A^ew England; Bradford's Plymouth Plantation ; *Hening's Statutes 
of Virginia; * Archives of Maryland ; American History Leaflets; 
Old South Leaflets; Higginson's .4 w^rzV^w Explorers; Stedman and 
Hutchinson's Library of American Literature ; *Hart's Contempo- 
raries, I. 

Maps. — MacCoun's Historical Geography ; Winsor's America, and 

Mississippi Basin. 

Bibliography. — Channing and Hart, Guide to American History, 
§§ 56 a, 56 b (General Readings); §§ 96-102, 104-128 (Topics and 
References); § 23 (State and Local Histories); § 29 (G}lonial 
Records). 

* " American Commonwealths " series, and so throughout these lists of 
references, 

49 



so 



Colonization 



[§35 



Illustrative Material. — Mrs. Austin's Standish of Standisk and 
other stories; Hawthorne's G?'andfather^s Chair ; Mrs. Child's Hobo- 
mok ; Mrs. Cheney's Peep at the Pilgrims; Motley's Merry Mount; 
M. E. Wilkins's Adventures of Ann ; Dix's Soldier Rigdalt ; Long- 
fellow's Miles Standish ; Whittier's Cassatidra Southwick and other 
poems; Bynner's Penelope^s Suitors; Drake's JVezi/ England Legends ; 
* Lowell's Among Jl/y Boohs (" New England Two Centuries Ago ") ; 
Irving's Ktiickerbocker History ; Paulding's Dutchman's Fireside and 
other stories; Stedman's Peter Stuyvesanf s New Year's Call; Ken- 
nedy's Rob of the Boivl ; Cooke's Stories of the Old Dominion ; Eggles- 
ton's Pocahontas and Powhatan ; Caruthers's Cavaliers of Virginia. 



Grant to De 
Monts, 1603. 
American 
History Leaf- 
lets, No. 16. 



The French 
in Acadia. 
Parkman's 
Pioneers, 
245-257. 



Champlain's 

explorations, 

1604-14. 

Parkman's 

Pioneers, 

24s ; *Win- 

sor's Cartier; 

Higginson's 

Explorers, 

269-278. 



COLONIZATION, 1600- 1660 

35. The French in Acadia and Canada. — The French were 
the first to take advantage of the growing weakness of the 
Spanish monarchy, for Ralegh was no longer in a position to 
carry out his far-reaching plans. The sudden activity of 
France, however, was more especially due to the desire of 
her great ruler, Henry IV, to establish a French colonial 
empire. In 1603 he granted a commission to Sieur de 
Monts, appointing him Lieutenant General of Acadia, with 
authority to colonize lands " extending from the fortieth to 
the forty-sixth degree," or from Philadelphia to Halifax. 
In 1604 De Monts led a band of colonists to the Bay of 
Fundy and settled on an island in the mouth of the St. Croix 
River. The site was not a good one, and the colony was 
moved to the eastern side of the bay. 

A remarkable figure among these colonists was Champlain, 
a great explorer, a good draughtsman, a graceful writer, and 
an excellent observer. Instead of remaining quietly on the 
shores of the Bay of Fundy, he voyaged along the coast as 
far west and south as Plymouth harbor ; he called it Port 
St. Louis, and made a map of it which is of value at the 
present time. A few years later, he founded the town of 
Quebec (1608), and discovered Lake Champlain (1609) 
and Lake Huron (161 5). The French settlements were 
seized by the English between 1609 and 1629, but they were 
restored to France by the Treaty of St. Germaia in 1632. 



i6o3] 



The Virginia Company 



51 




The French colonies grew very slowly ; at the end of the 
century (1699) there were not one thousand French settlers 
living south of the St. Lawrence 
River. 

36. Revival of English Enter- 
prise. — The last part of the six- 
teenth century was a time of 
great social unrest in England. 
Large numbers of persons were 
obliged to seek their livelihoods 
in new and untried directions. 
All eyes were turned to foreign 
lands, where the daring voyages 
of Drake and his companions 
had revealed to Englishmen the 
achievements of the Portu- 
guese, the Spaniards, and the Dutch. Three voyages made 
to the New England coast attracted attention to that part 
of the continent and led to a great scheme of colonization. 
The first of these voyages was that of Bartholomew Gosnold. 
Leaving England in March, 1602, he reached the New 
England coast, built a trading house on one of the Elizabeth 
Islands, filled his vessel's hold with a valuable cargo, and 
returned safely to England before the end of the following 
July. His goods were at once seized by Ralegh. In 1603 
Martin Pring visited Plymouth harbor, which he named 
Whitson Bay ; he too returned with a valuable cargo. The 
voyage which attracted most attention, however, was that 
of George Weymouth to the coast of Maine in 1605. He 
returned home with the most encouraging accounts of a 
cHmate well suited to nutmegs and tropical plants, — he 
was there in the summer, — and he also reported that the 
signs of gold were abundant. 

37. The Virginia Company, 1606. — Meantime Ralegh 
had fallen under the displeasure of the new king, James I. 
His property was seized and Virginia was taken from him. 
In 1606 James granted the first Virginia charter. In this 



Treaty of St 
Germain, 
1632. 

American 
History Leaf- 
lets, No. 16, 
p. 10. 



Gosnold's 
voyage, 1602. 
Winsor's 
America, 
III. 172; 
Higginson's 
Explorers, 
203-213. 



Weymouth's 
voyage, 1605. 
Winsor's 
America, 
III, 174; 
Higginson's 
Explorers, 
213-221. 



52 



Colonization 



C§38 



Limits of 
Virginia, 
1606. Hins- 
dale's Old- 
Northwest, 
72; Ameri- 
can History 
Leaflets, No. 
16, p. 3- 



First settle- 
ment in 
Maine, 1607. 
Winsor's 
America, III, 
175; Higgin- 
son's Ex- 
plorers, 222- 
225. 



document Virginia was defined as extending from the thirty- 
fourth to the forty-fifth degree of north latitude ; or from the 
Cape Fear River to the Bay of Fundy. The members of 
the corporation formed under this charter resided in or near 
London, and also in the southwestern part of England in 
the vicinity of Plymouth in Devonshire. The company was 
divided into two subcompanies corresponding to this geo- 
graphical division among its members : to the Londoners 
the king gave the sole right to colo- 
nize the territory between thirty-four 
and thirty-eight degrees of north 
latitude, or between the Cape Fear 
and Potomac rivers ; to the Plym- 
outh men he gave a similar right to 
plant colonies between forty-one and 
forty-five degrees of north latitude 
or between the Hudson River and 
the Bay of Fundy. The intervening 
region, stretching from the thirty- 
eighth to the forty-first degree of 
north latitude, was left open to 
whichever of the two companies 
should first colonize it ; but it was 
provided that neither company could 
plant a colony within one hundred 
Virginia. 1606 ^^^jj^^ ^^ ^ settlement already made 

by the other. This singular arrangement was devised, to use 
the words of the charter, " for the more speedy accomplish- 
ment of their said intended plantation ; " but the provision 
led to nothing of the kind. 

38. The Popham Colony, 1607. — Sir John Popham, Chief 
Justice of England, Sir Ferdinando Gorges, and the Gilberts 
were the leading members of the Plymouth Company, or 
subcompany, to be more accurate. On May 31, 1607, a 
fleet under George Popham, brother of the Chief Justice, 
and Ralegh Gilbert sailed for the coast of what is now the 
state of Maine. They landed at the mouth of the Kenne- 




I607J 



Tlie Jamcstowji Colony 



53 



bee, built a fort, and explored the country. They found no 
gold ; the natives proved unfriendly ; and the winter was 
severe beyond anything they had ever conceived. They 
seized the first opportunity to abandon the enterprise and 
returned home in the following spring (160S). 

39. The Jamestown Colony, 1607. — The London Com- The London 
pany had promptly made preparations to colonize the Company, 
southern portion of Virginia. Its treasurer or chief execu- 
tive officer was an energetic business man, Sir Thomas 





{a) Virginia, 1609 (3) 

Smith ; among its leading members were Sir Thomas Gates 
and Lord de la Warr. The first colonists left the Thames in 
midwinter, 1606-7; in the following spring they reached 
the capes of the Chesapeake, which they named for the 
two sons of King James, — Cape Henry and Cape Charles. 
They began their settlement on the southernmost of the 
rivers which flow into the bay, calling it the James River, 
while to their village they gave the name of Jamestown. 
Their trials and adventures, and the heroism displayed by 



Founding of 
Virginia, 
1607. Win- 
sor's Amer- 
ica, III, 127- 
137; *Hart's 
Contempora- 
ries, I, Nos. 
62, 63; Hig- 
ginson's 
Explorers, 
231-265. 



54 



Colonization 



[§40 



Smith's True 
Relation in 
American 
History Leaf- 
lets, No. 27. 



New charter, 
1609. 



Limits under 
this charter. 
Hinsdale's 
Old North- 
west, T^-jZ ; 
American 
History Leaf- 
lets, No. 16, 
P-5- 



the members of this little band, can be best understood by 
a perusal of the quaint account of the most capable man 
amongst them, Captain John Smith. His True Relation, 
which was printed in 1608, may be read with confidence, if 
one bears in mind the conceit of its author. The site of the 
settlement proved to be a poor one ; of the one hundred 
and five original settlers, fifty were dead within six months. 
The company expected immediate profit ; this led to cease- 
less explorations for gold, to the neglect of agriculture. 
Furthermore, the colony was on a military basis, — each 
man's labor was for the common benefit, and each man was 
fed out of a common store. There was no spur to laborious 
exertion, and discipline, which alone could take the place 
of self-interest, was almost entirely lacking. Starvation and 
disease more than once threatened to break up the settle- 
ment. 

40. The Virginia Charters of 1609 and 1612. — In 1609 
the king granted a new charter to the London group of the 
original Virginia Company ; the new corporation was given 
more authority over its colonists, and the limits of its terri- 
tory were defined, though vaguely. These were now to be 
two hundred miles from Point Comfort (the Old Point 
Comfort of the present day) in either direction along the 
coast, "and all that space and circuit of land, lying from 
the seacoast of the precinct aforesaid, up into the land 
throughout from sea to sea, west and northwest." The 
interpretation of this latter provision gave much trouble in 
later days : which line should be run westward and which 
northwestward? If the northern line were run westward 
and the southern line northwestward, Virginia would be 
triangular in shape {a). As the northern limit and the 
western direction were first mentioned in the respective 
clauses of the charter, it might easily be argued that this 
was the intention of the king ; but on the other side it 
could be urged that in case the lines were drawn in this 
way Virginia would not extend from " sea to sea," as the 
charter expressly provided. To accomplish that object, the 



i6ii] 



Dales Administration 



55 



southern line must be drawn westward and the northern line 
northwestward (^). 

In 1612 the king granted the Virginia Company still 
another charter extending the limits of Virginia eastward 
to include the Bermudas, or Somers Isles, as they were 
then called. The company also received nearly complete 
governing powers and was authorized to hold general meet- 
ings of all the freemen or shareholders of the company, — 
the General Courts, as they were termed. These courts were 
held at London. 

41. Dale's Administration. — In 16 11 Sir Thomas Dale 
came to Virginia as ruler of the colony. He was a strict 
disciplinarian and at once introduced vigor and order into 
the affairs of the plantation. It is reported that as he sailed 
into the James River he saw two men reclining by the river's 
bank and promptly set them to work. To arouse the need- 
ful self-interest, he granted to each of the old planters three 
acres of land for his own, and in this way began the destruc- 
tion of the system which had so far hampered the colony's 
prosperity. Dale's rule in Virginia is chiefly remembered, 
however, in connection with a severe system of laws which 
were established in his time. This code was entitled " Arti- 
cles, Lawes, and Orders, Divine, PoHtique, and Martiall for 
the Colony in Virginea," and was said to be based on the 
military systems of the Netherlands. Many of its clauses, 
however, have a character one usually associates with the 
so-called " blue-laws " of the New England colonies. For 
instance. Article vi provides that " every man and woman 
duly twice a day upon the first towling of the Bell shall 
upon working dales repaire unto the church, to hear divine 
Service upon pain of losing his or her dayes allowance for 
the first omission, for the second to be whipped, and for the 
third to be condemned to the Gallies for six moneths." The 
thirty-third article further prescribes that all persons shall 
satisfy the minister of their religious soundness or place 
themselves under his instruction ; for neglecting this duty 
a third time the offender should " be whipt every day until 



Charter of 
1612. 



Dale's ad- 
ministration. 
Winsor's 
America, III, 
137-141- 



" Dale's 
Laws," 1611. 
Gay's Popu- 
lar History, 
I, 300. 



Religious 
observances. 



56 



Coloftization 



[§42 



Tobacco 

culture. 



Hart's Con- 
temporaries^ 
I, No. 83. 

The 
Puritans 
and the 
colonists. 



Virginia 
Assembly, 
1019, 

Hart's Con- 
temporaries, 
I, No. 65. 



he hath made the same acknowledgement, and asked for- 
giveness, and shall repaire unto the Minister to be further 
instructed by him." Article iii provided that no man should 
" speak against God's name " or " the known articles of the 
Christian faith," — namely, those of the Church of England, 
— under pain of death. A second conviction of " cursing " 
was punished by having a bodkin thrust through the tongue, 
and for the third offence the culprit suffered death. Other 
articles provided penalties for neglect of work (three years 
in the galleys), and no person could sell anything to be 
transported out of the colony under pain of death. 

That Virginia enjoys the distinction of being the first 
permanent English colony to be founded in America is due 
mainly to the rapidity with which mankind adopted the 
practice of using tobacco in one form or another. The 
Czar of Russia decreed that smokers should have their 
noses cut off, but this and other prohibitions were in vain, 
and the tobacco habit spread throughout Christendom faster 
than any religion or language has ever spread. From the 
moment that the production of tobacco became profitable, 
the future of Virginia was assured. 

42. Introduction of Representative Institutions. — Be- 
tween 1614 and 1618 the Virginia Company fell into the 
hands of the Puritans, and its character was radically 
changed. In 16 18 Sir Edwin Sandys, one of the leaders 
of that party in the House of Commons, displaced Sir 
Thomas Smith as treasurer of the company. The Puritans 
believed in the civil equality of man ; it mattered not to 
them whether one were a dweller in the home land or in the 
colonies. They sent over Sir George Yeardley as governor 
in 16 1 9. His instructions directed him to summon two 
burgesses to be freely elected by the inhabitants of each 
plantation or other convenient local unit. These repre- 
sentatives of the people, with the Governor and Council, 
were to form a General Assembly. Yeardley at once carried 
out his instructions, and the first representative legislative 
body in the history of America met in the church at James- 



1619] OvertJinnv of the Virginia Company 57 

:o\vn in 1619. Dale's Laws were at once repealed and a 
much milder code substituted. Every one was still required 
to attend divine service according to the Church of Eng- 
land twice each Sunday, but the penalty for staying away 
was reduced to three shillings for each offense. Many of 
the new laws restrained personal liberty ; while others limited 
the production of tobacco and encouraged the cultivation 
of food stuffs. 

43. Introduction of Forced Labor. — With increasing pros- Indentured 
perity came a better class of colonists : many men of sub- servants, 
stance and ability emigrated to. Virginia; they acquired 

great tracts of land and cultivated tobacco on a large 
scale. In this way was created a demand for cheap, un- 
skilled labor. Shiploads of convicts, of runaways, and of 
persons who had been kidnapped were sent to Virginia to 
be bound out as servants or apprentices for a term of years, 
or perhaps for their lives, as the case might be. These 
were the indentured servants, or *' indented servants," as 
they were usually termed in the colony. Many poor but 
respectable persons gladly adopted this means to secure a 
new start in the world. The same year (1619) that saw 
the establishment of representative institutions witnessed 
also the introduction of Hegro slavery. The first negroes Negro 
were brought to Jamestown in a Dutch vessel and may be slavery 

, 1 , . . 1 . introduced, 

regarded as a chance importation, not one made in any jgjg^ 
way to answer a demand already in existence. Employers 
appear to have preferred the forced labor of whites to that 
of blacks ; slavery in consequence increased very slowly, 
and it was not until the middle of the century that there 
were many slaves in the colony. 

44. Overthrow of the Virginia Company, 1624. — The The end of 

Puritans, who were now in control of the Virginia Company? ^^ Virginia 
,, , r T-- X 1 Ti Company, 

were not at all to the taste of King James ; they did not 1624. 
always heed his requests, and the General Courts of the 
corporation afforded them a convenient opportunity to meet 
and plan to oppose the king's measures. It was determined 
to overthrow the company. James had now reached that 



58 



Colonization 



t§45 



The 

Assembly 
of 1629. 



Opposition 
to Governor 
Harvey. 



part of his reign when he found himself obliged to proceed 
with great caution, as war with Spain had again broken out. 
With his habitual cunning, he appointed a commission to 
collect evidence and to excite animosity against the com- 
pany in Virginia. This plan, however, was not successful ; 
but an Indian massacre (1622) gave the government the 
opportunity to charge the company with failure to protect 
its colonists. The charter was annulled in 1624. 

45. Virginia under the Royal Governors, 1624-52. — The 
fall of the Virginia Company brought slight change to Vir- 
ginia : the royal governors enjoyed about the same powers 
that Yeardley had exercised ; but it is not certain that 
assemblies were held in the years immediately following the 
downfall of the company. Meantime James had died, and 
the new king, Charles I, was greatly in need of funds to 
maintain the government of England without holding a 
Parliament (p. 70). He, or his ministers, conceived the 
idea that a handsome profit might be made from a monopoly 
of the tobacco trade. The co-operation of the Virginians 
was necessary to the successful working of the plan, and a 
General Assembly was held in Virginia (1629) to secure 
their consent to the scheme. The colonists refused to 
become parties to the arrangement, but the holding of the 
assembly was important, as it proved to be the precedent 
for the summoning of legislative bodies thereafter in all the 
royal provinces. 

The first of the royal governors to attract attention was 
John Harvey, who won the planters' hatred by his arbitrary 
conduct. Besides, the Virginians disliked his kind treat- 
ment of Lord Baltimore's colonists when they came to settle 
Maryland, for that province had been carved out of territory 
granted to the Virginia Company. Harvey, as representa- 
tive of the king in America, was obliged to do what he 
could to forward his master's wishes, but this only increased 
the hatred with which the Virginians regarded their ruler. 
Some of the bolder among them arrested him, sent him to 
England to answer their complaints, and a few of them even 



1629J Virginia during Puritan Supremacy 



59 



went to England to lay their case before the king. Harvey 
was soon sent back, but, on the other hand, little was done 
to punish the Virginians for their contempt of the king's 
representative. 

In 1642 Sir William Berkeley arrived in Virginia as gov- 
ernor. His rule was the longest in colonial history, lasting 
from 1642 to 1652, and again from 1659 to 1676. During 
the first of these periods the Puritans appeared in Virginia 
and made many converts to their peculiar beliefs. Berkeley 
and the leading men were alarmed at their success and made 
sharp laws against them. In the end most of them crossed 
the Potomac to Maryland. 

46. Virginia during the Puritan Supremacy. — While 
Berkeley had been governing faithfully for king and church 
in Virginia, both king and church had succumbed to the 
Puritans (p. 70) in England. The execution of Charles I 
aroused no answering echo in the Old Dominion. On the 
contrary, Berkeley sought to convert the colony into an 
asylum for the party which had suffered defeat in England ; 
but the second Charles and his followers generally preferred 
the luxury of European exile to the wilderness of America. 

The Puritans, now supreme in England, offered most gen- 
erous terms to the colonists of Virginia, Maryland, and New 
England, — nothing less than free trade between the colonies 
and the mother country, on condition that the colonists 
would confine their commerce to England. As the case 
then stood, the proposition was for free trade within the 
British Empire, much as there is now free trade within the 
United States. The Virginians would have none of it. For 
a few years the affairs of Ireland and Scotland occupied 
the energies of the Puritan rulers of England. In 1652 
they turned their attention for a moment to the rebellious 
colony ; a small fleet sailed across the Atlantic, and the 
Virginians surrendered without striking a blow. The terms 
offered by the conquerors were singularly liberal : the colo- 
nists were required to recognize the authority of the Com- 
monwealth; in other respects they were left to govern 



Sir William 
Berkeley. 



Execution of 
Charles I. 



The Puritans 
and Virginia, 



Hart's Con- 
temporaries, 
I, No. 69. 



6o 



Colonization 



[§47 



Hammond's 
" Leah and 
Rachel," in 
Stedman and 
Hutchinson, 
I. 343- 

Reasons for 
founding 
Maryland. 
Winsor's 
America, HI, 

517-529; 
Browne's 
Calverts, 
eh. it ; Hart's 
Contempora- 
ries, I, No. 
72. 



themselves. For six years the Virginians elected their own 
governors, enjoyed the most complete independence they 
ever had before 1776, and were very prosperous. In 1659, 
on the fall of the Protectorate in England, they chose 
Berkeley as governor, and he was in office in 1660. 

47. The Calverts and Maryland. — Maryland owed its 
rise to the action of two remarkable men, — George and 
Cecilius Calvert, father and son. They desired to build 
up for the benefit of their family a great landed estate in 
America and also hoped that their fellow Catholics would 
find an asylum in the colony. The Calverts were men of 
broad and statesmanlike views, and deserve the greatest 
credit for the liberal spirit which they displayed in the 
management of their colonies. 

George Calvert, the father, was a prominent man in 

England during the 
last years of the reign 
of James and in the 
early years of the rule 
of Charles. He be- 
came one of the prin- 
cipal secretaries of 
state. At some time 
before 1625 — the pre- 
cise date is not certain 
— he became a Roman 
Catholic; in 1625 he 
withdrew from office. 
Calvert now actively 
embarked in schemes 
of colonization. His first venture, a settlement in New- 
foundland, ended in failure. He then determined to trans- 
fer the scene of his colonial enterprise to the warmer 
climate of Virginia, and obtained from the king a grant of 
the unoccupied land north of the Potomac. George Calvert 
died before the charter was actually issued and it was given 
to his son, Cecilius, who was scarcely inferior to his father 




Charters of New England and Maryland 



1632] ' 



Government of Maryland 



61 



in judgment, although without the latter's experience in the 
management of affairs. 

48. Boundaries of Maryland. — The limits of the new 
province were set forth with great inexactness in the 
charter. The intention of the king undoubtedly was to 
give to Baltimore all the unsettled land in Virginia north 
of the Potomac and south of the fortieth parallel, — the 
southern boundary of New England according to the charter 
of 1620 (p. 63). Owing, however, to the imperfection of 
geographical knowledge of those days, this intention was 
only partially carried out. 

Among the more important provisions of the Maryland 
charter is one which assigned to Baltimore's colony a 
western boundary, — the meridian of the source of the 
Potomac. During the seventeenth century this restriction 
did not matter much, but toward the close of the eighteenth 
century, when emigration to western lands began to attract 
attention, Maryland found itself placed at a great disadvan- 
tage as compared with Virginia and Pennsylvania (§ 172.) 

The southern boundary of the new colony was the south- 
ern bank of the Potomac from its source to a certain place 
named "Cinquack," thence across Chesapeake Bay by the 
" shortest line " to " Watkins' Point," and thence " unto the 
main ocean." This is one of the few instances in history 
where the bank of a river forms an important boundary; 
usually such a line follows the channel. In this case it gave 
rise to disputes between Virginia and Maryland, which, one 
hundred and fifty-five years later, led to the summoning of 
the Federal Convention (§ 179). The northern limit of 
Maryland was the fortieth parallel, but the disputes which 
arose over it will be better understood when we come to a 
study of the limits of Pennsylvania (§ 88). 

49. Government of Maryland. — Maryland was made a 
province under the crown, and the Barons of Baltimore, as 
proprietaries, were given extensive powers of government. 
One important limitation of their power should be noted : 
they could legislate and tax only with the consent of the 



The 

Maryland 
grant. 
Hinsdale's 
Old North- 
west, 78 ; 
American 
History Leaf- 
lets, No. 16, 
p. 12. 



Western 
limit. 



Southern 
limit. 



Authority of 
the proprie- 
tary. 



62 



Colonization 



[§50 



Dispute as to 
the initiative. 
Winsor's 
America, III, 

529; 

Browne's 
Calverts, 
ch. V. 



Toleration 
Act. 

Browne's 
Calverts, 
chs. vi, viii ; 
Winsor's 
America, III, 
533-536; 
*Hart's Con- 
temporaries, 
I, No. 84. 



Winsor's 
America, 111, 
ch. xiii ; 
Hammond's 
" Leali and 
Rachel," in 
Stedman and 
Hutchinson, 
I. 347- 



freemen, by which word all free adult male whites seem 
to have been intended. This made it necessary to hold 
assemblies from the beginning. Disputes between the pro- 
prietary and the freemen at once began. Baltimore, rely- 
ing on the words of the charter, claimed the right to initiate 
or begin legislation ; he refused his assent to a code of laws 
enacted by the freemen, and they, in turn, refused their 
consent to a code which he drew up. In the end, Baltimore 
was compelled to yield, and thus at the outlet lost much of 
the power which he had expected to exercise. Furthermore, 
the laws of Maryland were not submitted to the Enghsh 
government ; but any law was of no force if it was contrary 
to the laws and customs of England. 

50. Toleration Act, 1649. — The leading colonists of 
Maryland were for the most part Roman Catholics, but 
many of the settlers, including some important men, were 
Protestants. Puritans from Virginia entered the colony, 
and their friends were fast gaining the upper hand in Eng- 
land. In 1649 the Maryland assembly passed the Tolera- 
tion Act, to the effect that no one should be molested for 
his religious beliefs, provided he were a Christian. This is 
one of the most memorable acts of the colonial period, and 
is the first of its kind in the history of modern times ; but it 
should always be most carefully borne in mind that absolute 
religious freedom existed at this time in Rhode Island, owing 
to the liberal spirit of the Puritan leader of that colony, — • 
Roger Williams. Both Catholic and Protestant writers have 
endeavored to secure for their respective sides the credit for 
the passage of this law ; but now it is generally thought that 
the law was in the nature ot a compromise. Soon after- 
wards, in the time of the Protectorate, Maryland fell into 
the hands of the Puritans, who oppressed the Catholics. In 
1657, however, these disputes were arranged and the Tolera- 
tion Act was restored. There were also many controversies 
with Virginians, especially with a man named Claiborne, and 
the contests with them and with the Puritans always occupy 
a large space in Maryland histories. 



1 649 J 



The Pilgrims 



63 



51. The Council for New England, 1620. — For many 
years after the unhappy attempt to found a colony at the 
mouth of the Kennebec (§ 38), no English solonists ap- 
proached the shores of northern Virginia, The success of 
the Virginians again awakened the interest of the survivors 
of the Plymouth Company under the first Virginia charter. 
They, with some new associates, applied for a charter and 
obtained (1620) a grant of all America between forty and 
forty-eight degrees of north latitude under the name of 
New England (map p. 60). The grantees, under this new 
patent, never did much in the way of colonization ; they 
acted rather as a great land company. The settlement of 
New England was due to men of a different stamp, whose 
departure from their native land was owing mainly to the 
religious contest then raging in England, although many of 
them were impelled by self-interest as well. 

52. The English Puritans. — The English Reformation 
resulted in the separation of the church in England from 
the existing Catholic church. This was as far as the Enghsh 
monarchs and the mass of the Enghsh people wished to go, 
but there were many earnest persons who desired to proceed 
much farther and to purge the Enghsh church of what they 
deemed to be abuses. These reformers were called Puri- 
tans, and were themselves divided into two groups, which 
shaded one into the other. The more conservative of them 
were the Nonconformists, who desired to reform the Church 
of England while remaining members of it. The more rad- 
ical ones were willing to separate from the church, provided 
they could worship God in their own way ; these were known 
as the Separatists. 

53. The Pilgrims. — Among the Separatist congregations 
was one which met in the dwelling of William Brewster in 
the little hamlet of Scrooby in Nottinghamshire. With the 
coming of James the Puritans were persecuted because he 
was determined to make them conform or to " harry them 
out of the land." They resolved to seek an asylum in a 
foreign country, where they might enjoy freedom to worship 



Council foi 
New Eng- 
land, 1620. 
Winsor's 
America, III 
295 ; Ameri- 
can History 
Leaflets, No. 
16. p. 7. 



The 

Puritans. 
Fiske's New 
England, 
50-66; 
Gardiner's 
Puritan 
Revolution ; 
J. R. Green's 
Short His- 
tory. 



The 

Pilgrims. 

Winsor's 

America, III 

257-266 ; 

Dexter's 

Pilgrims, 

pp. 61, 117; 

Fiske's Nezt. 

England, 

71-75- 



i62oJ The Pilgrim Compact 65 

God according to the dictates of their consciences. After 
encountering great hardships, they settled at Amsterdam in 
Holland (1608); later, they removed to Leyden. There 
they remained several years, leading such laborious lives 
that many of their friends " preferred the prisons of Eng- 
land to such liberty as this was." At length they deter- 
mined to make another pilgrimage. The reasons which led American 
them to form this resolve should be read in the words of History Leaf. 

lets No. 2Q 

William Bradford, the heroic chronicler of their glorious en- „ J 
terprise. In brief, they desired to better their worldly con- 
dition and to provide for the well-being of their posterity as 
they could not do at Leyden. They also feared lest their 
children should lose their English speech and habits. The 
venture seemed to be full of perils, but they felt that it was 
worth trying, and they reflected that all important under- 
takings " must be both enterprized and overcome with 
answerable courages." The Virginia Company was now 
controlled by the English Puritans, who were easily per- 
suaded to grant the Pilgrims permission to settle within the 
limits of Virginia. The emigrants also endeavored to secure 
from James a guarantee that they should not be molested on 
account of their religion. This was refused, as it was sus- 
pected that their design was " to make a free popular state 
there " ; the king seems to have hinted, however, that " he 
would connive at them and not molest them, provided they 
carried themselves peaceably." 

54. The" Pilgrim Compact, 1620. — The events of the Voyage 
Pilgrims' voyage across the Atlantic and the hardships of across the 
the first years of their life at Plymouth are so well known Dexter's 
that it is unnecessary to describe them. After enduring Pilgrims, 
privations unknown to emigrants of our time, the Pilgrims ^ ' ^'^' 
anchored off Cape Cod (November, 1620), far to the north 
of their destination, and found themselves obliged to settle Bradford's 
in that region. Bei-ng outside of the limits of the Virginia ^y'"'"*{''' 

" <=> ° Plantation; 

Company, they were compelled to make new provision for American 
the government of their colony, and drew up a compact History Leaf' 
which is here reproduced from Bradford's manuscript. The ^ ' °" ^ 



ri; 












V? 









I^.s i 



^Vf<l?^*<!J5^ ?'*.?,l^ 






^^ 



S^^'^-tt ;x:V^M^ ^ -^^^ 



O VJ ^ 






^ 






The Pilgrim Compact. Facsimile of Bradford's Manuscript 
(Reprinted in American Histoyy Leaflets, No. 29, p. 26) 



66 



l620j 



The Pilzrims and Communism 



67 



document was signed by nearly all the men of the Pilgrim 
band, who thus agreed to be bound by what was determined 
for the public good. 

55. Settlement at Plymouth, 1620. — After careful explo- 
ration, while the Mayflinver remained in what is now Prov- 
incetown harbor, the Pilgrims resolved, December 21, to 
settle on the shores of a haven which had been visited by 
Pring and Champlain. In 16 14 Captain John Smith had 
also sailed along the New England coasts and had printed 
a map on which English names were assigned to many im- 
portant points; among others, he called the Port St. Louis 
of Champlain, Plymouth. On December 16, old style, or 
December 26 according to our mode of reckoning time, the 
Mayflotuer anchored in Plymouth harbor, and nine days 
later the work of building houses for the colonists was 
begun. 

The Pilgrims were attracted to this spot because the land 
was already cleared of the trees and there seemed to be no 
Indians in the neighborhood. It turned out that the natives 
who had formerly lived on the shores of Plymouth harbor 
had died of disease a few years before. Only one of the 
tribe was living ; he soon appeared at Plymouth, was care- 
fully and generously supported by the Pilgrims, and in return 
taught them how to win a scanty subsistence from the barren 
soil and icy waters around them. The Pilgrims also entered 
into a treaty with Massasoit, the most powerful chieftain of 
southeastern New England, and this agreement both parties 
faithfully observed for more than half a century. Other 
Englishmen in the neighborhood were not so wise in their 
dealings with the natives, and the Pilgrims found themselves 
obliged to interfere in order to prevent a general massacre. 
This work was splendidly done by Miles Standish, a man of 
cool and courageous bearing. 

56. The Pilgrims and Communism. — The terrible mor- 
tality of the first winter and the hardships of the succeeding 
years were due in part to the poverty of the Pilgrims, to 
their having begun their settlement in midwinter, and to 



The Pilgrim 

Compact, 

1620. 

Dexter's 

Pilgrims, 

cli. XV. 

Plymouth 
settled, 1620. 
Winsor's 
America, III, 
267-276 ; 
Fiske's Neiv 
Etigland, 82- 
87; Higgin- 
son's Ex- 
plorers, 311- 
337- 



The Pilgrims 
and the 
Indians. 
Dexter's 
Pilgrims, 
ch. xviii; 
Fiske's New 
England, 
199-205. 



68 



Colonization 



[§57 



Slow growth 
of the Pil- 
grim colony. 
Dexter's 

Pilgrims, 
237-246. 



Government 
under the 
compact. 



the barrenness of the soil. It was owing in large measure, 
also, to the system of common labor, which has never had a 
fairer trial than it had at the hands of the Pilgrims at Plym- 
outh. At length, to avoid starvation, one acre of land was 

given to each head 
of a family, to be cul- 
tivated for his own 
use and held by him 
until the end of the 
seven years, when a 
general division 
should be made. 
Later on (1626), the 
principal men joined 
together and bought 
out the English part- 
ners for eighteen hun- 
dred pounds sterling, 
to be paid in nine 
installments ; they 
found the means to 
pay this great sum by 
prosecuting a profit- 
able fur trade with 
the natives on the 
Kennebec River and 
elsewhere. 

57. Form of Gov- 
ernment. — In the be- 
ginning the govern- 
ment of Plymouth 
was a pure democracy, as far as the signers of the com- 
pact were concerned. For many years Bradford was 
annually chosen governor; but when business increased 
with the growth of the colony, other men were elected to 
assist him in the discharge of his duties. Important matters 
were transacted at meetings of all the signers of the com- 




Charters of Massachusetts, Connecticut, Caro- 
lana. and Carolina 



1629] 



The Massachusetts Bay Company 



69 



pact and such others as they admitted to a share in the 
government. 

The colony grew slowly through the settlement of other 
towns in the neighborhood. Before long it became in- 
convenient for the voters or freemen to go to Plymouth to 
attend the legislative meeting, or General Court, as it was 
called. This led to the establishment of a representative 
system (1638), modeled on that of Massachusetts Bay 
(§ 61) ; but all the freemen continued to take part in 
the annual election of officers. As time went on, the 
franchise was gradually narrowed, until at length it be- 
came practically a religious qualification. 

58. The Massachusetts Bay Company, 1629. — Massachu- 
setts Bay had its origin in the desire of the English Non- 
conformists to found a settlement where they might work 
out their own ideas in church and state, and where, should 
occasion arise, they might find a refuge in time of need. 
Some of them obtained a grant of land from the Council 
for New England (§51) extending from three miles south 
of the Charles River to three miles north of the Merri- 
mac and every part thereof, and westward between the 
parallels of points three miles south and north of the 
sources of these rivers to the South Sea (1628). The next 
year the king by royal charter confirmed this grant of 
land to the original grantees and others who meantime had 
become associated with them (1629). In the same char- 
ter the king gave them extensive powers of jurisdiction, 
amounting in fact to self-government. There was no re- 
quirement that the seat of government should be in Eng- 
land, as had been the case in all previous grants. The 
company was able legally to transfer the government of the 
colony to those of its members who proposed to emigrate ; 
by so doing the charter of a colonizing company became the 
constitution of an almost independent state. The decisive 
step was taken at Cambridge (August, 1629) when many 
leading Puritans signed an agreement binding themselves to 
emigrate to Massachusetts. 



Representa- 
tive institu- 
tions. 



The Massa- 
chusetts 
Charter, 1629. 
Old South 
Leaflets, Gen. 
Sen, No. 7; 
Winsor's 
Boston, I, 99. 



The Cam- 
bridgeAgree- 
ment, 1629. 
Winsor's 
Boston, I, 
99-102; 
Hart's Con- 
temporaries, 
I, No. 106. 



^o 



Colonization 



[§59 



The Puri- 
tans, the 
king, and the 
archbishop, 
1629-40. 
Gardiner's 
Puritan 
Revolution ; 
Fiske's New 
England, 
97-102. 



Fiske's New 

England, 

137- 



59. The Puritans in England. — The year 1628-29 
marked the end of the first period in the contest between 
the Puritans and the crown over the question of taxation, 
a question which really included all others. The Petition 
of Right, to which the king had reluctantly assented in 1628, 
was violated, according to the Puritan interpretation of its 
most important clause, and the king, dismissing Parliament 
after a most violent scene (1629), arrested those who had 
been foremost in the defense of the cause of liberty, and 
seemed determined to govern England without parliaments 
in the future. Charles now began to rely upon the advice 
and judgment of William Laud, then Bishop of London, and 
later Archbishop of Canterbury. Like the king, Laud was 
a sincere, honest man of narrow mind and most intolerant 
of opposition. Both were strongly attached to the cere- 
monials of the Established Church and were resolved not 
merely to retain those still in existence, but to bring back 
many which had been discarded in former years. Deprived 
of their money without the consent of Parliament, and 
forced to take part in services which they regarded as idol 
worship, the Nonconformists resolved to make use of their 
charter and settle a colony in New England, where they 
would be far away from king and archbishop. This period 
of depression for the Puritans continued for eleven years 
(1629-40), when the king's quarrel with the Scots com- 
pelled him again to summon Parliament, this time under 
circumstances which gave the Puritans and other enemies 
of despotic government the power to compel him at least 
to listen to their remonstrances. From that time on the 
Puritans acquired more and more authority, until the deci- 
sive battle of Naseby (1645) made them masters of England. 

The New England colonies of Massachusetts, Rhode 
Island, Connecticut, and New Haven were founded in the 
years of the supremacy of William Laud ; his downfall led 
to an abrupt termination of Puritan emigration from Eng- 
land ; indeed, the movement began in the other direction, 
and many of the leading New England colonists exercised 



1630] 



Problems of Government 



71 



great influence in England during the time of the Common- 
wealth and Protectorate. 

60. The Great Emigration, 1630-40. — The Massachu- 
setts Bay Company planted its first colony at Salem in 1628 ; 
in 1629 the transfer of the charter was decided upon, and in 
1 630 the " great emigration " began. Led by John Winthrop, 
a man of property and ability, a fleet of fifteen vessels sailed 
across the Atlantic. More than one thousand colonists 
arrived during this year and founded the towns of Boston, 
Charlestown, Roxbury, Dorchester, Watertown, and New- 
town, — later called Cambridge ; within ten years no less 
than twenty thousand immigrants landed on the shores of 
Massachusetts. No movement like this had taken place 
before in historic times. There were already a few colo- 
nists living on the shores of Boston harbor. They were 
generally well treated by the new owners of the soil. One 
of the earher comers, Thomas Morton, led a reckless 
life at Mount Wollaston, or Merry Mount as he termed it. 
His doings were not at all relished by the Puritans. They 
repeatedly arrested him and sent him away. In revenge 
he wrote a book, entitled The New English Canaan, in 
which he gave an outsider's view of Puritan institutions 
and manners. It seems most amusing to us ; it was re- 
garded by the Puritans as scandalous. Morton also proved 
useful to the enemies of Massachusetts in England. 

61. Problems of Government. — By the charter the 
powers of government were given to the freemen or stock- 
holders of the corporation. Eight or twelve of them were 
in Massachusetts in 1630, and they possessed all powers 
of government in the colony, including the right to elect 
officers, make laws, judge offenders, and execute their own 
decisions. Had the original freemen refused to admit other 
persons to a share in their povwers, they would have estab- 
lished an oligarchy. Happily, they decided to proceed in a 
different spirit. In May, 1631, they admitted to the com- 
pany one hundred and sixteen persons. At the meeting at 
which this was done, however, the rights of the freemen were 



Settlement ol 
Massachu- 
setts, 1628- 
30. Fiske's 
New Eng- 
land, 88-104 i 
Hart's Con- 
temporaries, 
I, Nos. 56, 
57: Higgin- 
son's Ex- 
plorers, 
341-367. 



Morton at 
Merry 
Mount. 
Bradford in 
Stedman and 
Hutchinson, 
I, 107; 
Hart's Con- 
temporaries, 
I, No. 103. 



The free- 
men of 
Massachu- 
setts. Fiske's 
Neua Eng- 
land, 
105-109. 



72 



Colonization 



L§6i 



Their gov- 
ernment of 
the colony. 
Winthrop's 
New Eng- 
land ; Hart's 
Contempo- 
raries, I, 
>Io. 107. 



greatly lessened, and the provision was made that in the 
future only Puritan church members could be admitted to 
the franchise. A few years later the freemen became rest- 
less. They demanded a sight of the charter and at once 
saw that the supreme power was with the assistants and the 
freemen in the General Court or meeting of the stock- 
holders of the company. They repealed the law restricting 




John Winthrop, Governor of Massachusetts 

the powers of the freemen, and elected Thomas Dudley 
governor, in place of Winthrop. To this latter step they 
had been provoked by the declaration of John Cotton, one 
of the Boston ministers, that a man could not be turned out 
of office so long as he discharged his duties faithfully. It is 
interesting to observe how early a tendency toward demo- 
cratic ideas showed itself in Massachusetts. 

The freemen soon found it inconvenient to exercise their 



i63ij 



Attacks on Massachusetts 



73 



hard-won powers of government : it was expensive to travel 
to Boston from the towns which soon sprang up all along 
the seacoast ; and it was dangerous to leave their families 
unprotected. To overcome these inconveniences, they estab- 
lished a representative form of government by which the 
freemen in each town deputed two of their number to act 
for them as a committee at the General Court. They also 
established a system of voting by ballots or papers, as they 
called them, and worked out a clumsy mode of nominating 
candidates for office. 

62. Attacks on Massachusetts. — The prosperity of the 
new colony aroused the jealousy of other Englishmen en- 
gaged in colonial enterprises ; it awakened the suspicions of 
the English government ; and it attracted to Massachusetts 
many restless spirits. 

There seem to have been two parties in the Council for 
New England : one of them was composed of Puritans, 
as the Earl of Warwick, from whom, as president, the 
grant of Massachusetts had been obtained ; the other 
faction had no sympathy whatever with Puritan coloniza- 
tion. Sir Ferdinando Gorges was the leader of the latter 
group, and saw with dismay the sudden prosperity of the 
Puritans in Massachusetts and obtained an order from the 
court of King's Bench which was intended to be the be- 
ginning of the end of the Massachusetts Bay Company. 
Gorges also secured the surrender to the crown of the New 
England charter and was himself appointed governor-general 
of New England (1635). The outcome was not what he 
expected ; the vessel which was to bear him to his new 
government was destroyed on the stocks, and the Massa- 
chusetts Bay Company paid no heed to the order of the 
king's judges. It was in this year (1635) that the second 
writ for ship money was issued ; a monarch who could not 
pay the expenses of his court without raising a spirit of re- 
bellion among his subjects at home, had no funds with which 
to wage war on far-off Massachusetts ; the colonial author- 
ities, therefore, paid no attention to the commands of 



Representa' 
tive govern- 
ment estab- 
lished, 1634. 



Gorges at- 
tacks Massa- 
chusetts, 
1634-38. 
*Adams's 
Three Epi- 
sodes, I, 240 ; 
Fiske's New 
England, 
111-113. 



Gardiner's 
Puritan 
Revolution, 
or any his- 
tory of 
England. 



74 



Colonization 



t§64 



Roger 

Williams at 
Boston and 
Plymouth. 
Fiske's New 
England, 
114-116. 



Banished 
from Massa- 
chusetts. 
Baxter's 
As to Roger 

Williams ; 

Straus's 

Roger 

Williafns, 



Providence, 

1636. 

Greene's 

Rhode 

Island, 7-16; 

Arnold's 

Rhode 

Island. 



the English government. The " disorders of the mother 
country," as Winthrop remarked, " were the safeguard of 
the infant hberties of New England." 

63. Roger Williams. — Roger Williams, a Puritan min- 
ister, came to Massachusetts in 1631. He at once declared 
it to be wrong for the colonists to attend the parish churches 
in England, as their habit was when they went back to the 
home land to bring their famiUes to the colony or to arrange 
their business affairs. He then went to Plymouth, where his 
Separatist views found a more sympathetic hearing. Before 
he had been there long, however, he attacked the legal 
soundness of every land title in the colony, and asserted 
that " King James had told a solemn public lie " in de- 
claring in the New England Charter that he was the dis- 
coverer of the lands therein granted. Williams maintained 
that the settlers should have bought their lands of the Indians. 
Soon afterwards, he returned to Massachusetts and became 
the pastor of the church at Salem. There again he and 
the leading men of the colony began to disagree. Among 
other things, Williams asserted that the magistrates had no 
power to punish offenses against the Sunday laws. Finally, 
Williams asked the other ministers to labor with the rulers 
to bring them to his way of thinking. The magistrates, on 
their part, ordered Williams to leave the colony ; but, as he 
was in feeble health, they put off the day of his depar- 
ture until the following spring. They understood that he 
would refrain from attacking them during the remainder of 
his stay in the colony ; but the disputing began again, and 
they resolved to send him to England in a ship which was 
about to sail. Williams heard of their intentions and fled to 
the woods. 

64. Founding of Providence, 1636. — Williams then 
founded the town of Providence, a few miles south of the 
Massachusetts line. He " bought the land" of the Indians, 
as the phrase was. We now know that it was impossible to 
buy Indian lands, because the natives had no idea of private 
ownership of land. They understood allotment of land for 



1636] Anne Hutchinson and her Adherents 



7S 



a year for agricultural purposes, and some such idea was in 
all probability in the minds of the Indian chiefs who signed 
Williams's deed and who " sold " land to Baltimore's colo- 
nists, to William Penn, and to the settlers in Massachusetts 
where the grantees from the company were obliged to satisfy 
the Indian proprietors. 

Williams founded his settlement on the basis of equality 
in the state and freedom in religious affairs. The religious 
freedom of Maryland was in the nature of toleration ; in 
Rhode Island it was held that the state had nothing to do 
with a man's religion. It is to Roger Williams and to the 
settlers of Providence that the student must look for the 
origin of one of the most important principles underlying 
the American form of government, — the separation of 
church and state, which necessarily implies absolute religious 
freedom. For this Williams deserves a place beside the 
most prominent statesmen of the revolutionary and the con- 
stitutional periods. 

The settlers in the new colony found it hard to understand 
the precise limitations of the new principle of government j 
in their new-found freedom, they did many things which 
greatly annoyed Williams, and he wrote a letter explaining 
the meaning of liberty. In this remarkable writing he 
likened a state to a ship with officers, crew, and passengers, 
among whom were persons of many religions. Liberty of 
conscience turned upon these two hinges, — that none of the 
ship's company be forced to attend the ship's services, or 
prevented from holding his own services. The commander of 
the ship, however, ought to command the ship's course, pre- 
serve order, and punish according to their deserts all who shall 
mutiny or assert that " there ought to be no . . , ofificers, be- 
cause all are equal in Christ, therefore no masters nor officers, 
no laws nor orders, no corrections nor punishments." 

65. Anne Hutchinson and her Adherents. — Roger Wil- 
liams had hardly ceased to offend the Massachusetts magis- 
trates ere another comer appeared to cause some of them 
renewed perplexity. This disturber of the religious calm 



Religious 
freedom. 
Hart's Con- 
temporaries, 
I, No. 115. 



Williams ex* 
plains reli- 
gious liberty. 
Arnold's 
Rhode 
Island, 1,254, 



Anne Hutch- 
inson in Bos- 
ton. Fiske'3 
New Eng- 
land, 116- 



76 



Colonization 



[§60 



lig; Welde's 
Short Story \n 
Stedman and 
Hutchinson, 
I, 233-244 ; 
♦Hart's Con- 
temporaries, 
I, No. 108; 
Chandler's 
Criminal 
Trials, I, 
3-29- 



Rhodelsland 
settled, 1637. 
Greene's 
Rhode Island, 
17-20. 



Samuel Gor- 
ton. Fiske's 
New Eng- 
/(i«<^, 163-168. 
Hart's Con- 
temporaries, 
I, No. 113. 



was a gifted woman, by name Anne Hutchinson. Precisely 
wliat the doctrines were which she preached, it is not 
possible to say ; Winthrop declared at the time that only a 
few who " knew the bottom of the matter could tell where 
any difference was." It is clear enough, however, what was 
at the bottom of the magistrates' and ministers' dislike of 
Mrs. Hutchinson : she set herself against the ministers. 
Many colonists at first looked upon her ideas with favor, and 
the new governor, Henry Vane, fell under her influence. 
Gradually, however, Winthrop and the old leaders regained 

their former au- 
thority. Vane de- 
parted for England 
and Anne Hutch- 
inson was banished 
with her followers. 
With Williams's 
assistance they se- 
cured the island 
of Aquidneck, or 
Rhode Island 
(1637-38). 

66. Settlements 
on Narragansett 
Bay.— The Hutch- 
inson colonists 
founded two towns 
on Rhode Island, 
— Pocasset or 
Portsmouth on the northern end of the island, and Newport 
on the southern end. Each town managed its own affairs, 
with a general government based on equal representation 
of the two towns for matters of general interest. Later, 
another town was founded on the mainland by an eccentric 
but sincere person, — Samuel Gorton. He had no objec- 
tions to the other Puritan colonies on religious grounds, but 
he denied the legality of the government of Plymouth and 




Sir Henry Vane, Governor of Massachusetts 



1635] 



Founding of Connecticut 



77 



of Portsmouth, as not resting on royal grants but on com- 
pacts between the settlers. Even Providence proved to be 
unfriendly to him ; he secured land on the western side of 
Narragansett Bay and founded the town of Warwick. He, 
too, fell under the displeasure of the Massachusetts author- 
ities, who arrested him ; but in the end, with the help of 
the Puritan leaders in England, he was reinstated in his 
hamlet. In 1643 Roger Williams obtained from the Com- 
missioners of Plantations, appointed by the Long Parliament, 
a patent known as the Incorporation of Providence Planta- 
tions. This instrument permitted the towns on Narragansett 
Bay to form a federal union, if they so desired ; but no use 
was made of this permission until 1647. 

67. Founding of Connecticut, 1635-40. — Entirely unlike 
the feeble bands of colonists who settled the Narragansett 
towns were the numerous and well-equipped settlers who 
founded Connecticut. The former had been banished from 
Massachusetts ; the latter left that colony owing to their 
dislike of the narrow spirit displayed by those who were in 
control of the government. Probably they also saw oppor- 
tunities for material prosperity in the fertile Connecticut 
valley. At all events, in 1635 and 1636 the inhabitants of 
Newtown, with many of those of Watertown and Dorchester, 
founded three towns on the Connecticut River, which after- 
wards came to be called Hartford, Windsor, and Wethers- 
field. Two Puritan noblemen. Lord Brooke and Lord Saye 
and Sele, had obtained from the Council for New England 
a grant of this region. In 1635 John Winthrop, Jr., son of 
the governor of the Bay colony, acting as their agent, built 
a fort at the mouth of the Connecticut River, which he 
named Saybrook in their honor. It was scarcely more than 
a military post, but it was sufficient to maintain the control 
of the river for the English. These settlements were hardly 
made before a dangerous Indian war broke out with the 
Pequods. The campaign, which resulted in the extinction 
of the tribe, was conducted by Captain John Mason and his 
soldiers with wonderful skill. Those who wish to see the 



Providence 

Plantations, 

1647. 

Greene's 

Rhodelsland^ 

23-27; 
Arnold's 
Rhode Island. 



Connecticut, 

1635-37- 
Fiske's New 
England, 
123-128 ; 
Walker's 
Thomas 
Hooker 
(M.A.). 



The Pequod 
War. Fiske's 
New Eng- 
land, 129- 
134; Sted- 
nian and 
Hutchinson, 
I, 176-189. 



78 



Colonization 



[§70 



Conneeticut 
Constitu- 
tion, 1638- 
39. Hart's 
Contempora- 
ries, I, 120; 
Old South 
Leaflets, Gen. 
Ser„ No. 8. 



Connecticut 
boundaries. 
Hinsdale's 
Old Nort/i- 
west, 87. 



Reasons for 

founding 

New Haven, 

1638. 

Fiske's New 

England, 

135- 



Puritan soldier at his work in the forest should read Mason's 
account of this exploit and the glowing narrative of his vigor- 
ous supporter from Massachusetts, Captain John Underhill. 

68. Connecticut Orders of 1638-39. — The early history 
of Connecticut is important from a constitutional point of 
view. In the winter of 1638-39 the heads of families of 
the three towns of Hartford, Windsor, and Wethersfield 
met together and drew up a fundamental law, the Orders 
of 1638-39, which Bryce, an English writer on American 
pohtics, calls the " first truly political written constitution in 
history." The government established closely resembled 
that in operation in Massachusetts, except that there was no 
religious qualification for the voters. 

69. Extent of Connecticut. — In the end the Connecticut 
colonists secured the rights as to land which Lord Saye and 
Sele and Lord Brooke had received from the Council for 
New England. This grant was limited on the east by the 
*' Narragansett River," a stream which proved to have no 
existence. On this point a bitter contest arose with Rhode 
Island, which was finally decided by the English authorities 
against Connecticut; in this way the Pawcatuck,"a river 
which nowhere approaches Narragansett Bay, became the 
eastern boundary of Connecticut. The western boundary 
of the latter colony under the grant above mentioned was 
the South Sea ; but all attempts of Connecticut men to settle 
in Pennsylvania and New Jersey aroused fierce opposition. 

70. New Haven, 1638. — The settlement of New Haven 
was due to the energy and ability of two men, — John Dav- 
enport and Theophilus Eaton. The former was a Puritan 
minister, the latter a prosperous merchant of London and 
one of Davenport's principal parishioners. Silenced by 
Laud, Davenport interested Eaton in a scheme of coloniza- 
tion, and the two determined to found a colony where they 
could try an experiment in government on their own lines, 
as the Massachusetts people were trying one on theirs. 
They soon gathered a large band of colonists and founded 
the colony of New Haven (1638). In the government of 



1 641] The U tilled Colonies of New England 79 



their settlement only church members had any share, and 
great care was taken as to the admission of persons to church 
membership. Other churches and towns were soon founded 
in the vicinity and entered into confederation with New 
Haven ; but the early career of New Haven was not fortu- 
nate. At length, in 1662, it was absorbed by the stronger 
colony of Connecticut. 

71. The First New England Code of Laws, 1641. — Dur- 
ing the period of contest with the English government on 
the one hand, and with discontented persons in the colony 
on the other, the freemen of Massachusetts had constantly 
pressed for the publication of a code of laws. Until this 
was done, the magistrates enjoyed great freedom in apply- 
ing the general rules of the English common law and the 
precepts and commandments set forth in the Bible. No 
man could be certain whether he were committing an 
offense or not. The magistrates opposed the making of the 
code, because as things were they exercised great power ; 
they also feared lest the publication of the laws might give 
their enemies in England some ground on which to base a 
successful prosecution of the company. For years the de- 
mand of the freemen was put off by the expedient of refer- 
ring the matter to committees which never reported. The 
meeting of the Long Parliament changed the whole aspect 
of affairs ; the magistrates gave way, and a code was drawn 
up (1641). It was not printed at the time, but a manuscript 
copy has been preserved and reproduced in facsimile. 

72. The United Colonies of New England, 1643. — Mean- 
time other settlements had been formed along the New 
England coast, in Maine and on the shores and rivers of 
New Hampshire. There were constant disputes as to juris- 
diction between these colonies and Massachusetts which 
frequently used her power to enforce her own views to the 
disregard of the rights of others. 

In 1643 the four colonies of Massachusetts Bay, New 
Plymouth, Connecticut, and New Haven entered into a 
league "for mutual help and strength in all our future con- 



Formatioii 
of the " Bodji 
of Liberties." 



The " Body 
of Liberties." 
American 
History Leaf- 
lets, No. 25, 
§^ I, 2,18,42, 
46, 60. 



Formation of 
the New 
England 
Confedera- 
tion, 1643. 
Fiske's New 
England, 
153-161. 



8o 



Colonization 



[§73 



Reasons for 
union. 
American 
History Leaf- 
lets, No. 7. 



Rhode 
Island and 
Maine not 
admitted. 



Analysis of 
Articles of 
Confedera- 
tion. Ameri- 
can History 
Leaflets, 
No. 7. 



■^v 



:%v: 



'/>pL^^ 



cernements." The English government was now engaged 
in a deadly contest with the Puritans ; it could no longer 
protect the American colonists, nor could it protest effec- 
tually against any measures they might see fit to adopt. 
The New Englanders were surrounded by enemies : the 
Dutch on the west, the French on the north, and the Indians 
all along the land frontier. The distance between the 
settlements on Massachusetts Bay and those on the Con- 
necticut River prevented the formation of a general govern- 
ment, and some form of confederation, or " consociation " 
as they termed it, was the only way out of the difficulty. 
Neither the Rhode Islanders nor the settlers in Maine were 
invited to join in this association. "Concerning the 
Islanders," wrote Brewster of Plymouth, " we have no 
conversing with them further than necessiiy or humanity 
may require." As to the dwellers on the Maine seacoast, 

John Winthrop of Mas- 
sachusetts wrote: "They 
ran a different course 
from us both in their 
ministry and in their civil administration ; fjr they had 
lately made Acomenticus (a poor village) a corporation, 
and had made a tailor their mayor, and had entertained 
one Hull, an excommunicated person and very contentious 
for their minister." These two extracts show very clearly 
the liglit in which the colonists of Rhode Inland and Maine 
were regarded by their fellow English settlers ; plainly they 
would not have been acceptable in the " consociation." 

73. Articles of Confederation. — The Articles should be 
studied in the original ; a few points only will be noted 
here. The federal bond was of the loosest description, as 
each colony retained its "peculiar jurisdiction" (Arts, iii 
and viii). Each colony sent two representatives or com- 
missioners to the meetings of the Confederation ; this 
provision was most unfair to Massachusetts, as contributions 
in men and money were based on the fighting strength of 
the several colonies. It was not long (1653) before she 



5* 



1 643] 



Articles of Confederation 



8i 



refused to be bound by the votes of the commissioners of 
the other confederated colonies and to take part in an 
Indian war ; the Massachusetts magistrates voted that they 
" did not see sufficient ground . . . and therefore dare not 
exercise our authority to levy force within our jurisdiction." 
This is the first nullifying ordinance in American history ; 
but Massachusetts acted on other occasions in an equally 
high-handed manner. The commissioners possessed ex- 
tensive functions on paper (Arts, vi and viii), and, when all 
the colonies were agreed, exercised more power than any 
other body of men then in x^merica. The Articles also 
contain (Art. viii) a provision for the return of fugitive 
servants and escaped criminals, which is generally regarded 
as the precedent for the fugitive slave laws of a later time. 
A species of court to settle disputes between members of 
the Confederation was also provided (Art. xi). The Con- 
federation was of the greatest assistance to all the New 
England colonies, and not merely to its members ; it gave a 
weight to their dealings with the Dutch and the Indians 
which no single colony could have had ; and it carried the 
New England colonies through the most dangerous Indian 
conflict of colonial times, — King Philip's War. 

It must not be supposed that the independent spirit Independent 
which led to the formation of the Confederation was in any ^P'"' of '^e 

New Eng- 

way lessened by the success of their Puritan friends in Eng- unders. 
land. On the contrary, the New Englanders used the 
Puritan triumph in England to forward plans for the self- 
government of New England. In 1643 the Massachusetts 
General Court voted to omit the words " You shall bear 
true faith and allegiance to our sovereign lord King Charles " 
from the magistrate's oath and did not insert a new form 
of words acknowledging allegiance to the Long Parliament. 
At about the same time, some of the leading Puritans in 
England suggested that any legislation which. Massachusetts 
desired would be enacted by Parliament ; but Winthrop 
declined the offer " lest in . . . after times . . . hostile 
forces might be in control, and meantime a precedent 



82 



Colonization 



[§74 



Dutch dis- 
coveries, 
Hudson's 
voyage. 
Winsor's 
America ; 
Gay's Popu- 
lar History, 
I, ch. xiii ; 
Higginson's 
Explorers, 
281-296 ; 
Hart's Con- 
temporaries, 
I, No. 38. 



Hart's Con- 
temporaries, 
I, No. 39. 



would have been established." Thus, more than a century 
before the passage of the Stamp Act, we find the leading 
men in Massachusetts denying the legislative authority of 
Parliament over the colony. During the period of the 
Commonwealth, Massachusetts paid no attention to the 
Navigation Ordinances ; she did not proclaim Cromwell 
and declined to recognize Richard as Protector, although 
asked so to do. The Confederation, also, maintained the 
attitude of an independent state towards the French and 
the Dutch. 

74. The Dutch Settlements. — In the first half of the 
seventeenth century, the Dutch were foremost amongst the 
commercial nations of the world. The Dutch East India 
Company was the most successful corporation of its kind 
in existence. On the decline of the Spanish sea power, 
the enterprising Netherlanders, in common with the French 
and the English, turned their attention to American ex- 
ploration. In 1609 Henry Hudson, an English seaman in 
the employ of Dutch merchants, sailed across the Atlantic 
in search of the straits leading to India, which were thought 
to be somewhere north of the Chesapeake. He first sighted 
the coast of Maine, and then sailing southward, reached the 
capes of the Chesapeake. Turning northward, he entered 
what is now New York harbor. Boldly sailing up the river, 
which now bears his name, he navigated his vessel as far 
as Albany. While in the river he received several parties of 
Indians with great kindness, offering them spirits to drink, 
after the manner of the day. At almost the same time 
Champlain was not a hundred miles away, on the shores of 
Lake Champlain. He also met Indians and killed several 
of them. It happened that the natives entertained by Hud- 
son and warred on by Champlain belonged to the League 
of the Iroquois, the strongest and most important Indian 
power in America. They never forgot their early hatred 
of the French, and always maintained the most friendly re- 
lations with the Dutch and their English successors, who in 
their turn treated them with justice. 



i643J Kieft and Stuyvesant 83 

Following on Hudson's voyage, the Dutch estabhshed Dutch trad- 
trading posts on the Hudson River : the most important one !^^J'°f f" 
was Fort Amsterdam, on Manhattan Island ; another was a'^ York, I, 
Fort Orange, on the site of the Albany of the present day. ch. iiL 
Dutch captains sailed along the coast eastward as far as 
Boston harbor and southward to Delaware Bay and River. 
In 162 1 the Dutch West India Company was established; 
it had exclusive rights as to trade in lands bordering on 
the Atlantic — so far, of course, as the Dutch authorities 
could confer such rights. These early Dutch settlements 
were for the purposes of trade; it was not until 1623 that 
the first colonists came over. 

New Netherland did not attract settlers, and, in 1629, Thepatroon. 
the Dutch West India Company attempted to stimulate ^'^'P^- 
colonization by the establishment of patroonships. This 
arrangement was embodied in a document called the Char- 
ter of Privileges to Patroons ; its principal provisions were 
that any member of the company who should transport, at 
his own expense, fifty colonists to New Netherland, should 
be entitled to a grant of land extending sixteen miles along 
one side of the river, or eight miles on both sides, if that 
were preferred. 

Each of these large grants was styled a patroonship, and 
the owner, or patroon, enjoyed extensive rights within its 
limits, subject, in important matters, to appeal to the com- 
pany's representative at New Amsterdam. No sooner was 
the plan determined upon than the more enterprising direc- 
tors sent out agents to seize the best lands. The most suc- 
cessful of these was Kiliaen van Rensselaer, a rich diamond 
merchant of Amsterdam, who acquired the region around 
Fort Nassau, or Orange. Subsequently, the system was 
modified to extend the rights of patroons to less important 
men, and, in 1639, the trade of the colony was thrown open 
to all comers, and land was granted in small quantities on 
payment of an annual rent. 

75. Kieft and Stuyvesant. — In 1643-44, owing to the 
wretched mismanagement of Kieft, the governor, the colony 



84 



Colonization 



[§76 



Kieft and 
Stuyvesant. 
Roberts's 
New York, 
I, chs. iv, v; 
Tuckerman's 
Stuyvesant ; 
Hart's Con- 
temporaries, 
I, 154. 



Swedish 
settlements. 
Roberts's 
New York, 
I, ch. vii. 



became involved in a serious conflict with the Indians who 
lived in the vicinity of Manhattan Island ; the colony was 
nearly ruined and Kieft was recalled. He was replaced by 
Stuyvesant, an able and energetic soldier, who had lost a 
leg in the company's service. Stuyvesant's administration 
was very despotic, as was that of all the Dutch governors. 
The people of New Amsterdam gained a few privileges of 
self-government in 1652, but Stuyvesant was able to deprive 
these concessions of nearly all their value. In his dealing's 
with the neighboring English colonies, he was not so suc- 
cessful. The Dutch claimed as far east as the Connecticut 
River, which had been discovered by one of their naviga- 
tors ; but the Confederation of New England was too pow- 
erful for Stuyvesant ; he was obliged to give way and to 
acknowledge the rights of the English settlers. With the 
Swedes on the Delaware he was more fortunate. Attracted 
by the advantages it offered, many Englishmen emigrated to 
New Netherland. Among them were some of the most 
important men of the Dutch colony. They taught their 
new associates the English hostility towards arbitrary rule, 
and the fall of New Netherland in 1664 seems to have been 
hailed with satisfaction by nearly all its inhabitants. 

76. The Swedes on the Delaware. — The Swedish settle- 
ments had their rise in the desire of Sweden's greatest king 
and one of Europe's greatest men, Gustavus Adolphus, to 
establish a colonial empire. It was not until after his death, 
however, that a beginning was made by the formation of a 
Swedish company, on the model of the Dutch and the Enghsh 
trading corporations. The new colony was planted on the 
southwestern side of Delaware Bay, on ground claimed by 
the Dutch. At the moment the Swedes were the foremost 
military power in Europe. The Netherlanders were practi- 
cally under their protection, and could hardly refuse a few 
square miles of unoccupied land in America to^such a neces- 
sary ally in Europe. In 1648 the Peace of Westphalia put 
an end to this state of affairs : the independence of the 
Netherlands was acknowledged by all the important powers ; 



i66o] Summary 85 

there was no longer any necessity of dealing gently with the 
Swedish intruders ; the Swedish colonists were conquered 
by Stuyvesant, and their territory again added to New 
Netherland (1656). 

77. Summary. — In 1660 the Puritan supremacy sud- The colonies 
denly came to an end : Charles the Second was restored to *" ^^^• 
the throne occupied by his father, and a new page was 
opened in the history of England and of America. After 
the sixty years of colonizing activity described in this chap- 
ter, there were in North America the French settlers in the 
north, few in point of numbers but formidable on account 
of their organization and because of their influence with the 
natives — excepting the members of the League of the Iro- 
quois. In the south, the Spaniards still maintained a feeble 
colony in Florida, at St. Augustine, and there were a few 
Spaniards in the southwest. On the seaboard of what is 
now the Middle States the Dutch were supreme. Between 
the Spaniards and the Dutch, and between the Dutch and 
the French, were English colonists. They occupied no 
great extent of territory, but they were more permanently 
fixed to the soil than were the French, the Dutch, or the 
Spaniards. They had established English home life and 
English institutions in their wilderness homes ; and they 
were practically self-governing. 

SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS AND TOPICS 

§ 35. French Colonization 

a. Give a brief sketch of the career of Henry IV of France. 

b. What further facts can you ascertain about Champlain } 

§ 36. Revival of English Enterprise 

a. Give a brief sketch of the reigns of the Tudors. 

b. Have the voyages of Gosnold, Pring, and Weymouth any real 
importance in American history ? Why? 

§§ 37-46. Virginia . 
a. Give a connected account of the Plymouth Company ; of the 
London Company. 



36 Colonization 

b. Place as headings in note-book, " Slavery," " Representative In- 
stitutions," " Limited Power of Congress," and enter under them all 
fitting matter as you proceed. 

c. Make a brief digest of English history, 1600-60, and place in 
parallel columns leading events in American history. 

d. Compare conduct of Virginia and of Massachusetts during Puritan 
supremacy. Give causes of difference. 

§§ 47-50. Maryland 

a. What events of vital importance in American history are con- 
nected with Maryland's western and southern boundaries ? 

b. What matter in these sections must you enter in your note-book 
under " Representative Institutions " ? What under " Power of Con- 
gress " ? 

c. In Congress where does the right of initiative belong ? Where in 
the legislature of your own state? Where in the British Parliament? 

d. Does the word " toleration " prove that absolute religious freedom 
did not exist ? Give your reasons. 

§§ 51-57- Puritans and Pilgrims 

a. Puritans, Nonconformists, and Separatists : carefully define and 
explain. 

b. What is a " pure democracy " ? Does any such exist at the pres- 
ent time? 

c. The " Pilgrim Compact " ; its formation and provisions. 

d. Trace at length the history of Plymouth to 1643. 

§§ 58-63. Massachusetts Bay 

a. Describe the struggle between the aristocratic and the demo- 
cratic elements in Massachusetts. 

b. Was John Cotton's declaration identical with the principle em- 
bodied in the present Civil Service Law? Give your reasons. 

c. What in these sections will you note under " Representative 
Institutions " ? 

d. Do you blame the Massachusetts authorities for expelling Roger 
Williams or Mrs. Hutchinson ? Were the two cases parallel ? 

§§ 64-66. Rhode Island 

a. Roger Williams's place in history. Turn to passages in the 
Constitution which relate to this matter. How is it arranged in the 
constitution of your state ? 

b. Give Roger Williams's explanation of " liberty of conscience "; 
of civil liberty. 



Questions and Topics 8/ 

§§ 67-70. Connecticut 

a. What spirit prompted the settlement of Connecticut? of New 
Haven ? 

b. Why did not Massachusetts need to draw up a written constitu- 
tion? 

c. Compare carefully the reason for the founding of Massachusetts, 
of the first Connecticut towns, of New Haven. What essential differ- 
ences can you discern ? What common elements ? 

§ 71. The Body of Liberties 

a. Were the English people accustomed to a written code of law? 

b. Look up some brief analysis of Magna Charta {e.g. Taswell- 
Langmead), and compare it with the Body of Liberties. 

c. Turn to Constitution and find passages which relate to matters in 
sections of the Body of Liberties noted on margin of p. 79. Do the 
same with the constitution of your state. 

§§ 72. 73- The United Colonies of New England 

a. Were taxation and representation on the same basis in the New 
England confederation ? 

b. Place in note-book as headings: "Nullification," "Fugitive 
Slave Laws," " Colonial Denials of Supremacy of Parliament," and 
enter all fitting matter as you proceed. 

§§ 74-76. The Dutch and the Swedes 

a. Give a brief sketch of history of Holland to 1648, and add a 
briefer sketch of the Thirty Years' War. 

b. Consider at length how the fortunes of the world might have 
been changed had Champlain treated the Iroquois kindly. 

c. Do we owe any distinctive elements of our national progress to 
the Dutch settlers ? Prove your statement. 

Historical Geography 

a. Represent in colors upon an Outline Map (i) the details of the 
Virginia charters (1606, 1609) ; (2) the boundaries of Maryland 
(1632) ; (3) the boundaries of New England (1620). 

b. Represent in colors upon an Outline Map the boundaries of the 
New England colonies; Massachusetts (1629); New Netherland 
(1660). 

c. Make any necessary changes in the map of your own state. 

General Questions 
a. What matter in this chapter must you enter in note-book under 
" Representative Institutions " ? What under " Power of Congress" ? 



38 Colonization 

b. Pick out all statements in this chapter which illustrate the charac 
ter and the spirit of the colonists of Virginia, of Maryland, of Plymouth, 
of Massachusetts, of Rhode Island, of Connecticut, of New Haven, and 
of New Netherland. Put them side by side and state the results of 
your comparison. 

c. How many examples of federation does this chapter afford ? 
State and compare. 

d. Give a bird's-eye view of the colonies in 1660. 

e. Make list of principal men in chapter, with dates ; state under 
each man's name what he did. 

f. Make a brief conspectus of all charters, showing (i) to whom 
granted, (2) purpose of grantee, (3) extent of land granted, (4) where 
governing power resided, (5) fortunes of charter. 

Topics for Investigation by Individual Students 
See directions under this head on p. 48. 

a. The founding of Jamestown (53, last group except Winsor, and 
top 54). 

b. The first American Assembly (56, last group). 

c. Why did the Pilgrims come to America (65, first group) ? 

d. The Pilgrims, November-December, 1620 (65, last group, and 
67, last one of second group). 

e. The trial of Mrs. Hutchinson (76, first group). 

/ The voyage of Henry Hudson, 1609 (82, first group). 



CHAPTER III 

A CENTURY OF COLONIAL HISTORY, 1 660-1 760 
Books for Consultation 

General Readings. — Higginson's Larger History, 169-191, 203- 
223; Thwaites's Colonies, 50-61, 76-81, 196, 220; Hart's Formation 
of the Union, 2-41 ; Fisher's Colonial Era ; Sloane's French War and 
the Revolution ; Lodge's English Colonies; Hinsdale's Old Northwest^ 
chs. iii and iv; Fiske's Civil Government, 152-158. 

Special Accounts. — *Winsor's America, Memorial History of Bos- 
to?t s.nd Cartier to Frontenac ; Channing's United States, Yo\.\l; *Hil- 
dreth's United States ; the state histories mentioned on page 49 and 
Egle's Illustrated History of Pennsylvania ; * Jones's Georgia; Wil- 
son's Metnorial History of New York (city) ; *Janney's Life of Penn ; 
Larned's History for Ready Reference. On French exploration and 
colonization : Parkman's Jesuits, Pioneers, and La Salle ; Bourinot's 
Canada; Maurice Thompson's Story of Louisiana ; Grace King's New 
Orleans. For the expulsion of the French, see : Parkman's Half Cen- 
tury of Conflict, Montcalm and Wolfe, and Conspiracy of Potitiac ; 
Irving's Life of Washington (abridged ed.); *Dunn's Lndiana ; *Hib- 
berd's Wisconsin. 

Sources. — Chandler's Criminal Trials; Hutchinson's Massachu- 
setts; Washington's Autobiography ; Franklin's Autobiography ; Amer- 
ican History Leaflets ; Old South Leaflets; Stedman and Hutchinson's 
Library of American Literature ; *Hart's Contemporaries, 

Maps. — Hart's Epoch Maps, Nos. 3, 4; Mac Coun's Historical 
Geography ; Winsor's America and Mississippi Basin. 

Bibliography. — Channing and Hart, Guide to American History, 
§ 56 b (General Readings); §§ 102, 103, 105-108, 125-132 (Topics and 
References) ; § 23 (State and Local Histories) ; § 25 (Biographies) ; 
§ 29 (Colonial Records); §§ 32, 33 (Writings and Autobiographies of 
Statesmen). 

Illustrative Material. — ■* Wendell's Cotton Mather (M. A.); 
Mason's Robert Cavelier (M. A.); Page's Thomas Nelson (M. A.); 
*Hallowell's Quaker Lnvasion of Massachusetts ; Irving's Washington ; 



90 



A Century of Colonial History 



[§79 



Lodge's Washington (S. S.^) ; biographies of Franklin, Samuel Adams, 
Oglethorpe, find others, see Guide, §§ 25, 32, y^,. Lowell's Among My 
Books ("Witchcraft"); Longfellow's New England Tragedies and 
Evangeline; Whittier's Pennsylvania Pilgrims, and Witck of Wen- 
ham; Irving's Knickerbocker's History ; Bynner's Begum's Daughter; 
Seton's Charter Oak; Cooke's Stories of the Old Dominion ; Caruthers's 
Knights of the Golden Horseshoe ; Cooper's Satanstoe, Waterwitch, Red 
Rover, and Leather Stocking Tales ; King's Motisieur Motte ; Simms's 
Cassique of Kiaway ; Catherwood's The Lady of Fori Si. John. 



Clarendon 
and his 
colonial 
policy. 



The Naviga- 
tion Acts. 
Winsor's 
America, VI, 
5-10. 
American 
History Leaf- 
lets, No. 19 

George Fox 
and the 
Society of 
Friends. 



A CENTURY OF COLONIAL HISTORY, 1 660-1 760 

78. The New Era in Colonization. — Charles II was re- 
stored to the English throne in 1660; his leading adviser 
was Lord Chancellor Clarendon. They found much to con- 
demn in the existing state of affairs in the colonies. The 
Puritans in New England, for example, seemed to look upon 
themselves as almost independent of England, and the peo- 
ple of no colony paid much attention to the commercial 
regulations which Parliament had laid down in the time of 
the Puritan supremacy in England. The first thing to do 
was to revive the navigation laws and then to enforce the 
royal authority in America. The First Navigation Act which 
was passed in 1660 provided that certain goods should be 
carried from the colonies direct to England ; these were 
enumerated in the act, and hence were called the " enumer- 
ated goods " ; among them was tobacco. This policy was 
developed as time went on ; but the colonists constantly 
disobeyed these laws except those which limited the com- 
merce of the empire to vessels owned and manned by the 
subjects of the English king, among whom, of course, were 
the colonists. 

79. The Puritans and the Quakers. — In the Puritan 
time in England many new sects arose, among them the 
Society of Friends or Quakers. Their founder was George 
Fox, a man of logical ttiind, who could express his ideas in 
language which plain men and women could understand. 

1 "American Statesmen " series, and so throughout these lists 



1656] 



The Puritans and the Quakers 



91 



Among other things, he taught that God still appears to men 
and women and reveals to them his will. As between man 
and man, Fox held to extreme democratic views, based on 
a literal reading of the Bible. To him all men were equal ; 
tokens of respect were due to no man, but to God alone. 
The Quakers, therefore, refused to address those in author- 
ity by their ordinary titles, as " Your Honor," etc. They 
also refused to take an oath of allegiance, or to swear to 
speak the truth in court, because the Bible commanded men 
to "swear not at all." It happened that the Puritans were 
very firm in their ideas on two of the points mentioned 
above : they believed that with the writing of the Bible the 
period of revelation had come to an end, and they demanded 
that those in authority should be treated with the utmost 
respect. The first Quakers appeared in Massachusetts in 
1656; they addressed the magistrates as "hirelings, baals 
[priests of Baal], and seed of the serpent," and threw down 
a challenge which the magistrates were not slow to take up. 
They put the Quakers into prison for safe keeping until the 
vessel which brought them over was ready to sail on its 
return voyage. The Quakers next came overland by way 
of Rhode Island, where they were cordially received and 
sheltered. The Commissioners of the United Colonies 
(p. 79) now look the matter in hand and advised the mem- 
bers of the Confederation to pass laws providing banish- 
ment, under pain of death in case of return. In this they 
were merely following English examples, as it was in this way 
that Parliament had repeatedly dealt with persons of whose 
doings it did not approve. The Massachusetts General 
Court at once passed such a law, and the Quakers hastened 
to Boston to " test the law " ; four of them were hanged, 
and others were severely punished. 

Many writers have sought to justify the action of Massa- 
chusetts on the ground that every state has the power to 
close its boundaries to outsiders and to eject from its midst 
any persons who are hostile to its well being. This power, 
the English government had delegated to the Massachusetts 



Winsor's 
America, III, 

469-473 ; 

Janney's 
Penn, ch. ii ; 
Fiske's New 
England, 
179-18 1. 



The Quaker 
Invasion, 
begins 1656. 
Fiske's New 
Etigland, 
183-190; 
Chandler's 
Criminal 
Trials, I, 
33-63; Sted- 
man and 
Hutchinson, 
I, 394-403; 
Hart's Con- 
temporaries, 
I, No. 140- 
142. 



Attempts to 
justify Mas- 
sachusetts. 



92 



A Century of Colonial History 



[§8o 



The Quakers 
in the other 
colonies. 



Massachu- 
setts and 
England, 
1661. Fiske's 
New Eng- 
land, 191- 
192; *Froth- 
ingham's 
Republic, 
49-62. 



The king's' 
judges. 
Stedman and 
Hutchinson, 

111.50; 
Fiske's New 
England, 
192- *Stiles's 
Judges of 
Charles I. 



Bay Company, which undoubtedly possessed the legal right 
to refuse admission to the Quakers. It should also be said 
that the executions of the Quakers were disliked by the 
plain people of Massachusetts and were carried out only 
through a display of force. 

The other members of the Confederation made severe 
laws against the Quakers ; but none of them proceeded to 
such extremities. Outside New England also, the Quakers 
were received with disfavor. For instance, in New Nether- 
land, where Stuyvesant still ruled, they were treated with 
great harshness, were beaten, hung by the hands, and other- 
wise cruelly abused. 

80. The English Government and Massachusetts. — The 
Quakers complained of the action of the Massachusetts 
magistrates, and the English government at once interfered. 
From the outset the Massachusetts rulers had allowed no 
appeal from their decisions to the courts in England ; it 
seemed now that a case had arisen where the English 
authorities might compel the colony to permit an appeal. 
An order was drawn up directing the Massachusetts Bay 
Company to send the Quakers to England for trial. But 
when the order reached Boston the laws had already been 
modified, the jails emptied of their inmates, and there were 
no prisoners under accusation to send to England. 

A far more serious offense in the eyes of the new rulers 
of England was the sheltering of two of the judges who had 
signed the death warrant of Charles the First. These regi- 
cides, as they were termed, were seen in Boston by an Eng- 
lish ship captain, who reported the matter to the authorities 
on his return to England. Orders were at once sent to the 
colony to seize them and send them to England. They 
escaped, however, and lived concealed in the New Haven 
colony, and later in the interior of Massachusetts. The 
colonial government showed so much zeal for their arrest, 
and so much skill in managing their escape, that the Eng- 
lish authorities could do nothing in the matter, whatever 
their suspicions may have been. 



i66i] Massachusetts Declaration of Rights 93 

81. Massachusetts Declaration of Rights, 1661. — Soon Declaration 
afterwards, the Massachusetts General Court drew up a °*^ Rights, 
Declaration of Rights, which carries us forward a century. 

In it the General Court asserted that its right to govern 
depended on the charter, which gave it full legislative 
power, provided its laws were not contrary to those of 
England. The charter, furthermore, gave it power to de- 
fend the colony, by sea and by land, against all persons 
who should seek to annoy the colony. " We conceive," 
said the General Court, that " any imposition [which is] 
prejudicial to the country, contrary to any just law of ours, 
[which is] not repugnant to the laws of England, to be an 
infringement of our right." This was plainly aimed against 
the Navigation Act. On the other hand, it acknowledged 
that the company had certain duties to perform : to bear 
allegiance to the king, to protect the person and the domin- 
ions of the monarch, and to govern according to the charter. 

Two agents were sent to England to try to smooth over English de- 
matters. They returned with a royal letter in which the mands, i66i 
king told the men of Massachusetts that they might make 
" sharp laws against the Quakers," for their ideas " were 
inconsistent with any kind of government." The king's 
letter also contained some new demands : that the oath 
of allegiance should be taken, that divine service should be 
permitted according to the rites of the Church of England, 
and that all persons orthodox in religion, though of different 
beliefs as to church government, and of competent estate 
should be admitted to a share in the government. Accord- 
ingly, the General Court enacted a new law for admission 
to the company, in almost the words used by the king ; but, 
as the certificate of orthodoxy was to be given by the min- 
isters in the several towns, who were all Puritans, it is not 
probable that the new law helped those who were not 
church members. The General Court also made regula- 
tions better to enforce the Navigation Acts ; but these, too, 
amounted to little in practice. 

82. The Commission of 1664. — Massachusetts, it will be 



94 



A Century of Colonial History 



[§83 



Complaints 
against Mas- 
sachusetts. 



Commis- 
sioners sent 
to Boston, 
1664. 



Failure of 
the commis- 
sioners. 



Connecticut 
and Rhode 
Island char- 
ters, 1662-63 



remembered, had governed the feeble settlements to the 
northward, to some of which she had a good claim ; and she 
had treated the Rhode Island colonists in a most overbear- 
ing manner. From all these colonies complaints reached 
England,' and the grantees of New Hampshire and Maine, 
whose claims Massachusetts had treated with scant courtesy, 
seized this favorable opportunity for revenge ; nor were the 
discontented dwellers within the colony silent. The Enghsh 
government sent a commission to New England to examine 
into these accusations and to settle as many of these ques- 
tions as possible. When the news of the appointment of 
this commission reached Boston the General Court ordered 
the fort in the harbor to be strengthened and prepared for 
defense ; they also confided the charter to a committee for 
safe keeping. 

The commissioners arrived in 1664, communicated their 
instructions to the General Court, and then departed to the 
conquest of New Netherland. In 1665 they returned to 
Boston and demanded a positive answer from the General 
Court, as to whether or not it recognized the force of the 
king's commission. The General Court replied that it was 
not its business to determine the force of the commission ; 
it had a charter and was obliged to govern according to it. 
The commissioners then endeavored to hold a court in the 
king's name, but the magistrates warned all persons against 
attending it, on their duty to God and allegiance to the king. 
Beaten at every step, the commissioners returned to Eng- 
land. In 1666 the king ordered the Massachusetts authori- 
ties to send over some of their principal men to justify their 
proceedings ; but the General Court declined to do so " on 
suspicion of the authenticity of the letter." Now again, as 
in 1635, events in England prevented the punishment of the 
colony ; the Dutch were in the Thames, and were blockading 
London. 

83. Charters of Connecticut and Rhode Island. — While 
Massachusetts had been engaged in this contest with the 
crown, Connecticut and Rhode Island had won favors from 



1664] Conquest of New Netherland 95 

the king in the shape of two charters, one granted in 1662 
to Connecticut and the other in 1663 to Rhode Island. 
These charters were drawn in such a liberal spirit that they 
continued to forrn the fundamental laws of Connecticut and 
of Rhode Island until 1818 and 1842. The voters of these 
two colonies were formed into corporations : to them was 
given practically all power, with the reservation of allegiance 
to the crown and the necessity of passing only such laws as 
should be conformable to the laws of England; their laws 
were not to be sent to England, but might be annulled by 
the king in council on appeal from the colonial courts. In 
other respects they enjoyed complete self-government : they 
elected their own officers and managed their own affairs to 
suit themselves. The Rhode Island charter also contained 
a provision for religious equality not unlike that of the sec- 
ond Carolina charter, which was granted in 1665. The 
boundaries of the two colonies, where they approached each 
other, were not accurately defined. Connecticut's western 
limits were in accordance with the terms of the old grant to 
Lord Saye and Sele and Lord Brooke (p. 77), and New 
Haven was included within it. 

84. Conquest of New Netherland, 1664. — The continued The English 
possession of New Netherland by the Dutch was distasteful conquest of 

. New Nether 

to the English ; on the other hand, its acquisition by the j^^^ ^^g 

English would greatly improve the latter's position on the Winsor's 

continent. The conquest was easily effected, and the terms '^'«^'''^''. i U 

given to the vanquished were most liberal. Nine years later Roberts's 

(1673) a Dutch fleet, happening to be on the coast, recon- -A^<^^ York, I 

quered it; but at the Peace of Westminster in the following tt'^I' r 

year (1674) it was ceded back to the English. temporaries. 

In 1664, while it was still in Dutch hands, Charles II I- ^55- 

granted New Netherland to his brother James, Duke of Grants of 

York and Albany, who afterwards ascended the throne as ^^^^ ^oxk 

T Tx T I • -1 f> Ti T and New 

James II. James, on his part, with true Stuart liberality, jersey, 
immediately gave the portion between New York harbor and Hinsdale's 
Delaware Bay to two court favorites, — Lord Berkeley and ^^^ North- 

west, 92—96. 

Sir George Carteret. The latter had gallantly defended the 



96 



A Century of Colonial History 



L§85 



New York to 
1688. Win- 
sor's Amer- 
ica, III, 
392-411. 



Roberts's 
New York, I, 
ch. xii. 



Constitu- 
tional His- 
tory of New 
Jersey. 
Winsor's 
America, III, 
422-448 ; 
Hart's Con- 
temporaries, 
1, No. 164. 



The Quakers 
in Ne V.- 
Jersey. 
Janney's 
Penn, 
ch. viii. 



I 



island of Jersey against the Puritan forces, and the province 
was named in his honor, New Jersey. In the resettlement 
of New York after the conquest, the old Dutch names were 
changed to English ones : New Amsterdam became New York, 
and Fort Orange was called Albany; but there were surpris- 
ingly few changes which were likely to arouse opposition. 

The people of all the colonies which had been settled 
by Englishmen enjoyed representative self-government; but 
New York had been settled by the Dutch and conquered by 
the English. Its people, therefore, enjoyed only the rights 
secured to them by the treaty which brought the conquest 
to a close. Indeed, it was not until 1684 that the first rep- 
resentative assembly met in New York. After the termina- 
tion of the Dutch wars in 1674 New York began to grow 
rapidly ; but throughout the whole colonial period, settlement 
was confined to Long Island and to the banks of the Hud- 
son and the lower Mohawk rivers. 

85. Settlement of New Jersey. — The history of New 
Jersey is very complicated and difficult to understand. The 
colony soon became divided into numerous small portions, 
each with a history of its own; only the broad lines of devel- 
opment can be traced in this section. No sooner was the 
grant made than Berkeley and Carteret, the proprietors, 
took measures to settle a colony in the new province ; they 
drew up and published an agreement known as the " Con- 
cessions." In this document they promised that those who 
should emigrate to New Jersey should enjoy religious free- 
dom and a liberal government resembHng that of Maryland. 
Rebellions began almost as soon as the colonists reached 
New Jersey. These troubles induced Lord Berkeley to sell 
his interest in the province to two Quakers, who soon quar- 
reled. In the end about nine tenths of Berkeley's share 
passed into the hands of the trustees, the foremost of whom 
was William Penn. The Quakers then negotiated with 
Carteret and secured a division of the province into two 
parts. East and West Jersey. The Friends took the south- 
western part and soon made many settlements. Later, in 



1664] 



William Penn 



97 



1682, they acquired Carteret's rights in East Jersey also 
There was a good deal of doubt as to whether any powers 
of government were conferred by the Duke of York on the 
New Jersey proprietors. Sir Edmund Andros, governor of 
New York, claimed that the Duke had parted with his right 
to the soil only, and arrested the Jersey governors. In the 
end, however (1681), James gave way, and the Jerseys were 
governed by the proprietors. The later history of the prov- 
ince is the story of the gradual union of all these interests 
and the surrender of the jurisdiction to the crown. During 
the early part of the eighteenth century, the colony had the 
same governor as New York, with a legislature of its own ; 
in 1 738 a governor of New Jersey was appointed, and the 
province became independent. Owing to the frugality and 
industry of its inhabitants, to its freedom from fear of war, 
protected as it was by New York and Pennsylvania, and to 
the fertihty of its soil. New Jersey enjoyed great prosperity, 
perhaps more than any other colony. 

86. William Penn. — WiUiam Penn, who first became 
interested in American colonization as one of the New 
Jersey trustees, was the 
foremost man among 
the Quakers and one 
of the most remarkable 
men of his time. Son 
of a distinguished ad- 
miral of the seventeenth 
century, he risked all 
chances of worldly ad- 
vancement and pecun- 
iary independence for 
conscience' sake and 
became a Quaker. 

Desirous to extend 
his colonial interests, 
and wishing to have a colony in which he could try his own 
ideas of government, William Penn obtained from Charles 



East and 
West Jersey. 




William 
Penn. 
Winsor's 
America, III 

473-476 ; 
Janney's 
Penn. 



William Penn 



Penn en- 
larges his 
colonial 
interests. 
Janney's 
Penn, ch. xii. 



98 



A Cetitury of Colonial History 



[§8; 



Extent of 
Penn's grant. 
Janney's 
Penii, ch. 
xviii ; Hins- 
dale's Old 
Northwest, 
98-104 ; 
Browne's 
Maryland ; 
Fisher's 
Making of 
Pennsylva- 
nia, ch. xi. 



Mason and 
Dixon's Line. 
Hart's Con- 
temporaries, 
I, N'o. 77 



II and James, Duke of York (1680-82), the Swedish-Dutch 
settlements on Delaware Bay and a vast region stretching 
westward from the Delaware through five degrees of longi- 
tude to which the name Pennsylvania was given. Of the 
latter territory William Penn was made proprietary on nearly 
the same terms on which the Baltimores held Maryland ; but 
the laws of Pennsylvania, unlike those of its neighbor, were 
to be submitted to the king within five years and he might 
then annul them. Religious toleration also was guaran- 
teed, but provision was made for services according to the 
rites of the Established Church. Penn's relations with the 
colonists of what is now the state of Delaware were not laid 
down in any charter, and this omission gave rise to trouble 
in succeeding years. Delaware finally (1703) became inde- 
pendent of Pennsylvania so far as the legislature was con- 
cerned ; but both provinces had the same governor during 
the colonial period. 

87. Mason and Dixon's Line. — The boundary disputes 
of Pennsylvania have been almost endless. The dispute 
with Maryland began immediately ; it was due to the loose 
geographical ideas of that time. The plan evidently was 
that Penn should possess a continuous strip of land on the 
southern and western shore of Delaware Bay and River, 
from Cape Henlopen to the northern boundary of Pennsyl- 
vania. This territory, so far as it lay south of the fortieth 
parallel, had been included in Maryland by the charter of 
1632 ; but it was held that Baltimore had forfeited his rights 
in this region by permitting the Swedes and the Dutch to 
make settlements on Delaware Bay. When observations 
were taken on the spot, it was discovered that there was a 
gap of some sixteen miles between the northern limit of the 
Swedish- Dutch colonies, which Penn had obtained by release 
from the Duke of York, and Pennsylvania, which he had re- 
ceived from the king. The southern boundary of Pennsyl- 
vania was the fortieth parallel, which had been the southern 
boundary of New England under the charter of 1620 and 
the northern boundary of Maryland under the charter of 



I 



i68o] The Northern Boundary of Pennsylvania 99 



1632. Now a most awkward question arose : Penn was 
determined to retain the control of the navigation of the 
Delaware system and advanced arguments to show that 
Maryland had practically no right to any land at all. For 
years the disputation went on ; at last, when both Penn and 
Baltimore were in their graves, an arrangement was made be- 
tween their heirs which gave to Pennsylvania, to Delaware, 
and to \Iaryland their present boundaries (1732). Two 
English surveyors, Mason and Dixon, determined the eastern 
portions of these limits and ran the line westward for some 
distance, when their further proceedings were stopped by 
the Indians (1762-67). Subsequently the line was con- 
tinued to the western boundary of Maryland, and was adopted 
by the states of Pennsylvania and of Virginia as limiting 
their respective territories. Such was the origin of Mason 
and Dixon's line, one of the most famous lines of demarca- 
tion in history. 

88. The Northern Boundary of Pennsylvania. — On the 
north, Pennsylvania came into contact with Connecticut, 
Massachusetts, and New York. 
In the disputes which arose over 
this portion of Pennsylvania, the 
arguments which Penn had ad- 
vanced to restrict Baltimore's 
grant were used with great force 
by Pennsylvania's opponents, and 
in consequence that state includes 
only two degrees of latitude, in- 
stead of three, as the words of 
the charter seem to indicate. 
The contention with Connecticut 
was especially violent. The Connecticut people had good 
ground for complaint, as their charter, granted in 1662, was 
clearly infringed upon by Penn's grant of some twenty years 
later. The dispute, continued throughout the colonial and 
the Revolutionary period, brought great misery to the dwellers 
in the Wyoming valley and on the upper Susquehanna, and 




Charter of Pennsylvania 



Northern 
limits. 
Fisher's 
Making of 
Penmylva' 
nia, ch. x. 



Hinsdale's 
Old Nortkr 
•west, iio- 
118. 



lOO 



A Century of Colonial History 



[§90 



Penn's 
Indian 
policy. 
Fiske's New 
England, 
205; 

Stedman and 
Hutchinson, 
11,227; 
Hart's Con- 
temporaries, 
1, No. 163. 
The "Walk- 
ing Pur- 
chase." 



Government. 
Winsor's 
America, III, 
483-489. 



was only concluded at the time of the Connecticut cession 
of western lands to the United States (§ 223), by an arrange- 
ment which secured to her a valuable tract of land immedi- 
ately west of Pennsylvania — known as the Western Reserve, 
which is now included in the state of Ohio. 

89. Penn and the Indians. — WilHam Penn, like Roger 
Williams and other colonists, was anxious that the natives 
within the limits of his colony should be treated with justice. 
Penn's ideas were set forth in a broad way in a treaty with 
the Indians which was not unlike the agreements between 
the settlers of New York and the Iroquois, and between the 
Pilgrims and Massasoit. In all three cases, justice and fair 
dealing were promised on both sides, and, as a matter of 
fact, all three agreements were faithfully carried out. 

Penn made several other treaties with the Indians, which 
related more especially to the purchase of land. The best 
known of these, perhaps, was the so-called " Walking Pur- 
chase," by which Penn acquired a tract of land west of the 
Delaware, extending inland as far as a man could walk in 
three days. The Quaker proprietary, with a few friends 
and a body of Indians, walked out the first day and a half 
in a leisurely fashion ; they accomplished about thirty miles, 
which was as much land as was needed at the moment. In 
1737, years after Penn's death, the other day and a half was 
walked out, this time in an entirely different spirit. The 
Pennsylvania authorities then employed the three fastest 
walkers that could be found ; one of whom covered eighty- 
six miles in thirty-six hours. 

90. Government of Pennsylvania. — Colonists came to 
the new province in great numbers, attracted by Penn's 
reputation and by the promise of religious liberty. The 
proprietary conferred upon them almost complete power of 
self-government ; he even abandoned the right to veto any 
legislation which they might adopt. Grave disputes arose : 
the colonists did not fulfill their obligations to the satis- 
faction of the proprietary, and he revoked the grant of 
self-government. In 1701 Penn granted the Charter of 



1663] 



The Carolina Charters 



lOI 



Privileges, which remained the fundamental law of Penn- 
sylvania until the American Revolution. 

This document was in reality a written constitution. It 
provided (i) that no person beheving in one God should 
be molested on account of religion; but (2) only those 
" who also profess to believe Jesus Christ the Saviour of 
the world " could take part in the government, and then 
only on promising allegiance to the king and fidelity to 
the proprietary ; (3) no person should be disturbed in his 
property except by legal process ; (4) an assembly, consist- 
ing of a single house, should annually be elected by the 
freemen, — which was interpreted to mean taxpayers; this 
assembly should exercise functions " according to the rights 
of free-born subjects of England, and as is usual in any of 
the king's plantations in America"; (5) the proprietary 
should be represented by a governor and council, who 
could negative any act of the assembly. The instrument 
also contained a provision for its amendment — except the 
clause as to religious freedom — provided the governor and 
six sevenths of the assembly should concur. 

This charter put an end to disputes with the proprietary 
as to forms of government ; but during the greater part of 
the first seventy years of the eighteenth century there was 
a fierce controversy over the question of the taxation of the 
proprietary's lands : the people asserted that these should 
be taxed Hke the lands of any private person, while the 
Penns claimed freedom from taxes on the ground that they 
were representatives of the king. Franklin went to England 
to lay the views of the colonists before the home govern- 
ment ; in the end, the Privy Council decided in favor of 
the Pennsylvanians (1759), on certain conditions, however, 
which were by no means to the colonists' liking. 

91. The Carolina Charters, 1663, 1665. — The new out- 
burst of colonizing spirit which followed the Restoration of 
Charles II was not confined to the northern and middle 
colonies : it led also to the founding of a new colony south 
of Virginia, which was named Carolina in honor of the 



Charter of 
Privileges, 
1701. Char- 
ters and 
Constitutions, 
II. 15-36. 



Controver- 
sies with the 
Penns. 



Carolina 
charters, 
1663, 1665. 
Winsor's 
America, V, 
290. 



102 



A Century of Colonial History 



[§92 



Limits. 
American 
History 
Leaflets, 
No. 16. 



Religious 
freedom. 



Early settle- 
ments. 
Winsor's 
America, V, 
287-290. 



Charleston, 
1680. Win- 
sor's Amer- 
ica, V, 307- 
309. 



second Charles. An earlier charter had already named this 
region Carolina for the first Charles. Among the grantees 
under the new charter (1663) were Clarendon, Albemarle 
(General Monk of Cromwell's time), Anthony Ashley Cooper, 
at the time known as Lord Ashley and later as the Earl of 
Shaftesbury, Sir William Berkeley, and the two grantees of 
New Jersey, Lord Berkeley and Sir George Carteret. The ter- 
ritory given to them lay between the thirty-first and the thirty- 
sixth parallels of latitude, and extended from the Atlantic to 
the Pacific. A part of it was within the limits of Virginia 
under the charter of 1609, and two years later (1665) by 
another grant the northern boundary of Carolina was pushed 
still farther north to include one half a degree more of 
Virginia soil (36° 30'). At the same time, the southern 
boundary was pushed two degrees farther south to the 
twenty-ninth parallel (map, p. 68). 

The most interesting provision in the charter of 1665 is 
one which guaranteed freedom of conscience and worship 
to all Christians on condition that " they abused not their 
liberty to the disturbance of others." In other respects, 
the Carolina proprietaries enjoyed the same powers of gov- 
ernment as the grantees of Maryland (p. 61). 

92. Settlement of the Carolinas. — Preparations were at 
once made to take possession of the new province. Settlers 
already were living in the northern parts, on Albentiarle 
Sound, and a few New Englanders had at one time settled 
on the Cape Fear River, but it is not certain whether there 
were any living in that region in 1663. Colonists came 
soon from the Barbados, and a prosperous settlement 
sprang up in the northern portion of the province. 

In 1670 the first band of immigrants came to the south- 
ern part of Carolina and settled on the southern side of 
what is now known as Charleston harbor. This famous port 
is formed by two rivers, the Ashley and the Cooper, named 
in honor of the Earl of Shaftesbury ; between them was a 
bit of ground destined by nature to become the seaport of 
the southeast, as Manhattan Island was designed to be the 



1670] Grievances of the Virginians 103 

commercial center of the north. It was not until 1680 that 
the colonists moved across the Ashley to Oyster Point, as 
this tract between the rivers was then called, and laid the 
foundations of Charleston, The new settlement throve, and 
by the end of the century, notwithstanding troubles with 
Indians and with the Spaniards, it was well established. 

93. Grievances of the Virginians, 1660-76. — The Res- Virginia, 
toration brouajht even more trouble to the loyal colony of 1660-76. 

Winsor's 

Virginia than it did to the members of the Puritanical New America 
England Confederation. Virginia's royalist governor, Sir in, 149. 
William Berkeley, was one of the Carolina grantees and a 
party to detaching from the Old Dominion a large piece of 
her territory. To requite the proffered .hospitality of the 
Virginia royalists (p. 59), Charles II, while still in exile, 
had renewed his father's grant of Virginia to several court 
favorites. After the Restoration (in 1663), he granted the 
whole colony to two men, Arlington and Culpeper, who 
were nearly as disreputable as he was himself. This made 
them masters of the province, and the Virginians were 
obliged to buy them off as well as they could. The new 
rulers of England also enforced the Navigation Acts with 
more vigor than the Puritans had done, and by new laws 
(p. 90) interfered with the tobacco trade, and caused a 
serious diminution in the price of that staple. The Virgini- 
ans petitioned for relief, but received none. 

The royalist faction naturally gained the ascendency in the Hart's Con- 

colony at the Restoration ; they made sharp laws against re- ff>"P''^'^f''^^^ 
,. • ,. • , . 1-1 I. No. 70. 

ligious dissenters, paid no attention to education, and very 

little to religion. Corruption and extortion prevailed in all 

branches of the government, and no election to the assembly 

was held for fourteen years. Then this ancient legislative 

body, which had been in existence since 1660, enacted a 

law greatly restricting the franchise, and it was proposed to 

hold a new election under this act. Affairs were in a critical 

condition when the Indians became very restless. The 

governor took little interest in plans for protecting the 

colonists, and was believed to be more concerned for the 



104 



A CenUiry of Colonial History 



[§96 



Bacon's Re- 
bellion, 1676. 
Winsor's 
America, III, 

151-153: 
Stedman and 
Hutchinson, 
1,445-478; 
Hart's Con- 
temporaries, 
I, No. 71. 



Virginia to 
1700. Win- 
sor's Amer- 
ica, V, 263- 
265; Sted- 
man and 
Hutchinson, 
11.265; 
Hart's Con- 
temporaries, 
I, No. 89. 



King 
Philip's 
War. 

Fiske's Xew 
England, 

Old South 
Leaflets, 
VI H, No. 4 



prosperity of the natives than he was for the safety of the 
settlers, as he received the net proceeds of the duties on the 
furs exported. 

94. Bacon's Rebellion, 1676. — Nathaniel Bacon, an able 
and popular man, now stepped forward and assumed charge 
of the war with the savages. Berkeley, on his part, declared 
Bacon and those who aided him to be rebels ; this declara- 
tion was the signal for a general uprising. It is useless to 
follow the course of this revolt : wherever Bacon appeared, 
he was successful, but as soon as his back was turned, 
Berkeley gained the upper hand. Before long Bacon died, 
and the excitement came to a sudden end. There are indi- 
cations to the effect that Bacon hoped to unite other colonies 
with Virginia in resistance to the royal authorities. The 
most regrettable thing about Bacon's Rebellion was that it 
prevented the granting of a charter giving the Virginia colo- 
nists the government of the province on substantially the 
terms of the Connecticut and Rhode Island charters. 

95. Virginia, 1677-1700. — Virginia next fell into the 
hands of a most greedy set of governors, — Lord Culpeper, 
Lord Howard of Effingham, Sir Edmund Andros, and Sir 
Francis Nicholson. The only important event of their time 
was the founding of William and Mary College, named after 
its royal patrons, the king and queen of England (1692). 
Its founder was the Rev. James Blair, who desired to estab- 
lish an institution in which young Virginians might be edu- 
cated for the ministry of the Established Church. Little 
was realized in this respect, but the college provided a fair 
training for those young Virginians who could not go to a 
Northern college or to England for an education. 

96. Overthrow of the Massachusetts Charter. — The years 
1675-76, which were so eventful in the history of Virginia, 
were even more important in the annals of New England, 
for then occurred a terrible struggle with the natives, which 
is known as King Philip's War, from the name of the Indian 
chief who organized the movement. The contest resulted 
in the crushing overthrow of the Indians ; it also greatly 



1676] TJie ''Stuart Tyranny in New Ejig/and" 105 



diminished the power of the New England colonies to resist 
the renewed attacks of their enemies in England. The chief 
causes of complaint on the part of the Enghsh authorities 
were the non-observance of the Navigation Acts, the inde- 
pendent attitude of the colonists in King Philip's War, and 
the purchase of Maine by Massachusetts. 

In 1676 Edward Randolph arrived at Boston. He came 
as the bearer of a letter from the king, in which the mon- 
arch vigorously complained of the action of Massachusetts 
as to the Navigation Acts. Randolph's further duty was to 
spy out irregularities in the conduct of the government, on 
which a suit could be founded for the revocation of the 
Massachusetts charter. He had no difficulty in discovering 
many unlawful proceedings, and he drew up a report stating 
the results of his observations. The attack on Massachusetts 
was part of a general scheme for the consolidation of all the 
colonial governments, save Pennsylvania and Carolina, under 
the direct control of the crown. Had the plan been carried 
out, the whole power of the English-American colonies 
would have been wielded by one hand. This would have 
greatly increased the power of England to resist French 
aggressions, and would also have led to a corresponding 
diminution in the ability of the colonists to withstand the 
attacks of king and of Parliament. After a prolonged legal 
contest, the Massachusetts charter was annulled (1684) and 
the government of Massachusetts was confided to Joseph 
Dudley, son of one of the founders of the colony. He was 
soon replaced by Sir Edmund Andros, once governor of 
New York. 

97, The " Stuart Tyranny in New England." — Sir 
Edmund Andros was a faithful servant of bad masters. He 
was directed to exercise in Massachusetts powers similar to 
those wielded by the governor in the conquered province 
of New York. All authority was given to his council ; but 
the latter was so servile that it is correct to say the gov- 
ernor possessed sole power. No provision was made for 
any representative legislative body : Andros decreed laws, 



Renewed 
attack on 
Massachu- 
setts, 1676- 
84. Fiske's 
A^ew Eng- 
land, 253- 
266. 



Massachu- 
setts charter 
annulled, 
1684. Hart's 
Contempora- 
ries, I, No. 
135- 

Andros in 
New Eng- 
land. Fiske's 
A''evJ Eng- 
land, 267- 
271; Wen- 
dell's Cotton 
Alather. 



io6 



A Century of Colonial History 



[§97 



Old South 
Leaflets, ad 
series. 



The 

dominion of 
New Eng- 
land, 1688. 
Hart's Con- 
temporaries, 
I, 122. 



levied taxes, executed the law, and, through judges who 
owed their appointments to him, exercised judicial power. 

Many of his acts, 
which seemed harsh 
to the Puritans of 
that time, do not ap- 
pear so severe to us. 
For instance, he com- 
pelled witnesses to 
kiss the Bible when 
they took an oath to 
give true testimony, 
and he insisted that 
those whose land 
titles were defective 
should have them 
confirmed by himself 
as representative of 
the king. But An- 
dros's methods of 
performing his duties 
were most ungracious, and he abused his power to seize 
private property. It must be remembered, however, that 
he had to deal with a most able opposition. 

Steps were also taken to secure the revocation of the 
charters of Connecticut and of Rhode Island, but no judg- 
ment was ever recorded against these colonies. Never- 
theless, Andros took control of them, in conformity with 
a new commission issued in 1688. This commission greatly 
extended the limits of his authority : the Dominion of New 
England, of which he was appointed governor, included all 
the English possessions on the continent south of the St. 
Lawrence and north of Pennsylvania. Boston remained 
the principal seat of government, and Andros was repre- 
sented at New York by a deputy governor, Francis Nichol- 
son. The revocation of the Maryland charter was also in 
contemplation, and the plans of the Stuart monarchs seemed 




Sir Edmund Andros 



1 688] 



Policy of the New Government 



107 



about to be accomplished, when the " Glorious Revolution 
of 1688 " hurled James II from the throne. It may be 
said, therefore, that the Revolution had as important conse- 
quences for America as it had for England. 

98. The ** Glorious Revolution " in America. — The news 
of the landing of VVilHam of Orange, in November, 1688, 
reached Boston in March, 1689, and the flight of James II 
was probably known to the colonial leaders not long after. 
At all events, on the morning of April 18, the town was full 
of armed men ; Andros was arrested and placed in confine- 
ment, and the commander of an English frigate, which hap- 
pened to be in the harbor, was compelled to strike her 
topmasts and send her sails on shore. A provisional gov- 
ernment was then formed under the old charter, and 
William and Mary were proclaimed king and queen. Con- 
necticut and Rhode Island re-established their old charter 
governments. 

In New York there was serious trouble, due to the sharp 
political and religious divisions which prevailed in that 
colony. The power passed to Jacob Leisler, a German 
merchant and captain of the trained band of New York. 
He was a man of force, but he lacked discretion, and he 
also was opposed by the extreme English faction. 

In Maryland, the Protestants, especially those of the 
Established Church, were opposed to the proprietary's rule. 
Led by John Coode, they seized the government and sent 
an address to William and Mary. On the other hand, Balti- 
more was peculiarly unfortunate : he dispatched a messen- 
ger to Maryland directing his governor there to proclaim the 
new monarchs, but the bearer of this order died while on 
the way, and the successors of James were not proclaimed. 

99. Policy of the New Government. — When William and 
his advisers were able to look away from the British Isles 
and to examine into the condition of affairs in England's 
possessions beyond the sea, they found themselves greatly 
perplexed. The case of Maryland was clear enough : they 
could not allow the province to remain in the hands of a 



Overthrow 
of Andros. 
Fiske's New 
England, 
272; Sted- 
man and 
Hutchinson, 
11,72; 
*Hart's Con- 
temporaries, 
I, No. 136. 



" Leisler's 
RebeHion." 
Stedman and 
Hutchinson, 
11. 478; 
Chandler's 
Cri7ninal 
Trials, 
257-266 ; 
Hart's Con- 
temporaries, 
I, No. 157; 
Roberts's 
New York, 
I, eh. xiii. 



William's 

colonial 

policy. 



io8 



A Century of Colonial History [§ 99 



nobleman who did not recognize their authority. A royal 
governor was sent to Maryland, but the charter was not re- 
voked. Some years later, in the time of Queen Anne, a 
Protestant Lord Baltimore regained the jurisdiction. As to 




THIt^ ludoitbeABlIL of lW/l^£v- ^o o 
S^t LUtMg 5 9^^ frorraiiie MafiachuIeSi ^ 

equal to incm.ejr&inaUie,accordirigl5r~3 
actcptcdty -uierReliteer anaRecciv^a/rXi) 
luLorim'ate toKka laallEtLlickpay-tnj&ttt*? 
audfor »«]/ Stodt'stt a^Ty time, i/n tfie-s^o^c^o 
IreaTtny !BoJton "nx lS[ew-Engla«icUf*o 
¥cLruaT^''meililrA l£^o By OroLei*^of 








Cornitte. 



^'^.rl^ 



Massachusetts currency, 1 690 



Pennsylvania, the government of that province was confided 
to the governor of New York, but afterwards it was restored 
to Penn. The Baltimores and the Penns continued to 
exercise the powers of proprietaries until the American 
Revolution. 



I69I] 



Policy of tJie New Government 



109 



In New York, affairs did not progress so smoothly. The 
new government at first recognized Leisler's authority, but 
later appointed a governor, Henry Sloughter, to supersede 
him. Unfortunately, Sloughter fell under the influence of 
the English party. Leisler had laid himself open to a 
charge of technical treason ; he was convicted and sen- 
tenced to death. Sloughter, while intoxicated, signed a 
warrant for his execution, and Leisler was hanged before the 
intemperate governor came to his senses. Afterwards the 
English government did what it could by a public funeral 
and a pension to his widow to atone for this murder of one 
of the best friends of the " Glorious Revolution." 

The people of Connecticut and of Rhode Island were not 
further molested. With regard to Massachusetts, the case 
was different : her charter had been annulled. Besides, the 
Bay colony had shown too much strength to be permitted 
again to become practically independent A new charter, 
usually called the Province Charter, was drawn up and 
issued in 1691. This established a form of government 
midway between that of an independent colony Hke Con- 
necticut, and that of a royal province hke Virginia : the 
governor, secretary, and treasurer of the new province were 
to be appointed by the king ; the council, however, was to 
be elected by a body representing the people, subject to 
the confirmation of the governor ; to the representatives 
was also confided the initiative in financial matters, — which 
gave the skilled politicians of Massachusetts the chance to 
take away from the governor most of the power which the 
charter had given to that official. 

Massachusetts, as a province, included New Plymouth, 
Maine, and the English possessions to the eastward ; but 
New Hampshire was given a government of its own. A 
form of words was used in the new charter to describe the 
boundary between these provinces which the English Privy 
Council, of a later day, interpreted to mean that Massachu- 
setts extended to a point three miles northward of the most 
southern point of the Merrimac only, instead of to a point 



Execution 
of Leisler. 
Roberts's 
New York, 
I, 206-214. 



The Massa- 
chusetts 
Province 
Charter, 169 1. 
Fiske's New 
Ejigland, 
273-278 ; 
Winsor's 
America, 
V, 87-92, 



Limits of 
Massachu- 
setts. 



no 



A Century of Colonial History [§ loi 



Character 
of period, 
1690-1760. 



Oglethorpe 
and founding 
of Georgia, 
1732. 
Winsor's 
America, 
V, 361-2,67. 
387-389. 



Carolina 

Rebellion, 

1719- 



three miles northward of the most northern point of that 
stream, as the old charter had plainly intended. The 
limits of Massachusetts still extended westward to the 
South Sea, as they had in the charter of 1629. 

100. Georgia. — The period from the accession of Wil- 
liam and Mary to the beginning of the events (1760) which 
led directly to the separation of the colonies from the 
British Empire, was a time of great material prosperity 
within the English colonies, and of conflicts with the French 
on the north and west and with the Spaniards on the south. 
Only one new province was founded during this period, and 
the colonies grew rather by developing the resources within 
their limits than by planting new settlements. 

The new province, Georgia (1732), had its rise in the 
desire of General Oglethorpe and other benevolent persons 
in England to provide a place in America where those who 
had been unsuccessful at home might obtain a new start in 
life. But these charitable people laid down conditions which 
greatly hampered those whom they wished to benefit : they 
granted land in too small quantities, and forbade negro 
slavery. In consequence, the Georgia settlers found it im- 
possible to compete with the Carolinians on the other side 
of the Savannah River. Unable to own slaves, they hired 
them of the Carolina slave owners, and in this way slavery 
was introduced into Georgia. The Spaniards viewed the 
newcomers with jealousy, and Oglethorpe passed most of 
his time while in America in dreary, but on the whole success- 
ful, conflicts with them. The Georgia charter contained an 
unusual clause, limiting the existence of the company to 
twenty-one years. Before that time had expired, the trustees 
were so disheartened that they surrendered their charter to 
the crown, and henceforth Georgia was governed as a royal 
province. 

loi. The Carolinas. — Meantime a great change had come 
over the Carolinas. The proprietaries' government had 
been most unsuccessful, and had become intensely unpopu- 
lar in the colony. One of the most curious results of their 



i689] 



Constitutional Progress 



III 



policy was to give an undue amount of influence to the 
people of Charleston and its immediate neighborhood. 
The elections to the assembly were held in the open air at 
Charleston, and the votes were given viva voce. The 
people were anxious to have the colony divided into districts, 
but the system above described gave the governors an un- 
usual chance to control elections, and nothing was done. 
In 1 719 matters reached a crisis, and the proprietaries' 
governor was deposed. Anxious to secure the revocation 
of the Carolina charter, the English government seized upon 
this favorable opportunity to send out a royal governor. 
After vain attempts to assert their authority, the proprie- 
taries, save one, sold to the crown (1729-31) their rights of 
government and their title to the undivided lands in the 
province. 

From the beginning, there had been two centers of settle- 
ment and government in Carolina ; this division was now 
recognized, but the line between the two provinces was not 
run for many years. Under the royal governors, the Caro- 
linas became very prosperous, especially after the founding 
of Georgia relieved them of danger from Spanish attacks. 
In 1 738 a serious slave insurrection startled the colony ; 
it was put down, and led to the enactment of a most severe 
system of slave laws. There were also troubles with the 
Indians, and with a succession of extortionate royal gov- 
ernors ; but, on the whole, the Carolinas grew rapidly in 
strength and resources. 

102. Constitutional Progress, 1689-1760. — The first half 
of the eighteenth century witnessed a gradual but steady 
growth in the power of the representative legislative bodies, 
except in Connecticut and Rhode Island, where they were 
already supreme. In this growth they were greatly assisted 
by the poor character of the royal governors, who were 
for the most part men of broken fortune and of Httle force. 
The disputes generally turned on questions of money : the 
governors desired to have their salaries fixed by law ; thfe 
assemblies preferred to regard them in the light of pay- 



Winsor's 
America, V, 
322-329 ; 
Stedman and 
Hutchinson, 
II, 277. 



The 

Carolinas 
to 1760. 
Winsor's 
America, 
V. ch. V. 



Characters 
of royal 
governors. 



112 



A Century of Colonial History [§ 103 



Lord 

Cornbury. 



The French 
and Indian 
Wars. 
Park man's 
Works; 
Winsor's 
America, V, 
407-413. 



Peace of 

Utrecht, 

1713- 



ments for services rendered, — generally the approval of 
some measure opposed to the policy of the home govern- 
ment The worst royal representative who ever came to 
America was probably Lord Cornbury, governor of New 
York and New Jersey. He was the grandson of the first 
Earl of Clarendon and cousin to Queen Anne. His first 
exploit was to steal twelve thousand dollars which the New 
York assembly had voted for fortifications. The represent- 
atives thereupon declined to vote any more money un- 
less it should be expended by officials in whom they had 
confidence. When his recall brought him under the juris- 
diction of the law, he was arrested for unpaid debts and 
lodged in jail until his accession to the earldom of Claren- 
don enabled him to satisfy his creditors and to return to 
England. The Virginians were also subjected to a succes- 
sion of extortionate rulers, from one of whom they obtained 
the right to appoint the Speaker of their assembly, and from 
another they wrested the appointment of provincial treas- 
urer. These are only instances of what was going on in 
all the royal provinces ; everywhere the royal authority was 
constantly weakened, and the power of the colonists con- 
stantly increased. 

103. French and Indian "Wars, 1690-1748. — The acces- 
sion of William of Orange to the English throne entangled 
England in the great struggle between the French monarchy 
under Louis XIV and the other states of Europe ; the con- 
test spread to America, and the colonists were involved in 
continuous strife with the French and their Indian allies, 
which continued with hardly a pause for upwards of half a 
century. These conflicts have been graphically describe'd 
by Parkman in his Fronfenac and New France and his 
Half Century of Conflict. 

The earlier part of this period of strife came to an end 
in 1 713 with the Peace of Utrecht. This is the first impor- 
tant treaty in the diplomatic history of the United States. 
By it France finally conceded to Great Britain the ter- 
ritory which had been explored by Henry Hudson in 16 10. 



1690] 



French and Indian Wars 



113 



Port Royal, the principal town of Acadia, had been con- 
quered by the English in 1690, but had been restored 
to the French by treaty in 1697 ; it had again been seized 
by the EngUsh in 17 10, and was now, with all Acadia, 
definitely ceded to Great Britain. The boundaries of 
Acadia, or Nova Scotia, as the English called it, were very 
vague: the French asserted that this province included 



Acadia and 

Acadians. 

Winsor's 

America, 

V, 415-417. 

452-463; 

Parkman's 

Montcalm 

and Wolfe; 




A Block House, Interior 



A Block House, Exterior 



III. 58. 



only the peninsula which is now known as Nova Scotia; Stedmanand 
the British argued that Acadia extended westward to the Hutchinson, 
Enghsh settlements in Maine and northward to the St. Law- 
rence. The treaty also provided that the French colonists 
in the ceded country should enjoy certain rights ; but these 
rights were not defined. In the end the Acadians were 
removed in 1755, when war with France was again ijnmi- 
nent. Other provisions of the treaty related to the enjoy- 
ment of the fisheries by the subjects of the two monarchs ; 
this part of the treaty has formed the basis of all later 
negotiations on the subject. 



114 



A Century of Colonial History [§ 104 



Peaceof Aix- 

la-Chapelle, 
1748. 



The French 
on the 
Mississippi, 
1673-81. 
Winsor's 
America, 
IV. ch.v; 
Old South 
Leaflets.VW, 
No. 2; 
XI. No. 8. 
Map in Hin 
dale's Old 
Northwest. 



Louisiana, 
1699. 
Winsor's 
America, 
V. ch. i. 



In 1745 Great Britain and France were again at war. 
The New England colonists under William Pepperrell, 
with slight support from a British naval force, captured 
the important military post of Louisburg on the island of 
Cape Breton ; but this was restored to the French at the 
Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748. 

104. Founding of Louisiana. — During the seventeenth 
century, the French had gradually extended their explora- 
tions westward along the Great Lakes. In 1673 two 
Frenchmen, Joliet and Marquette, penetrated to the upper 

waters of the Mis- 
sissippi, and in 1680 
Hennepin discovered 
the Falls of St. An- 
thony. The next year 
Robert Cavelier de 
la Salle voyaged down 
the Mississippi to its 
mouth and returned 
again to the French 
settlements in Can- 
ada. He then led 
a French colony to 
occupy the region 
about its mouth, but 
the attempt ended in 
disaster. 
„ . In i6qq another 

Pepperren ^^ 

rrench expedition 
appeared off the delta of the Mississippi. Its commander 
was Iberville, and with him was associated Bienville, who 
remained in the colony as governor. The settlers at first 
landed on one of the islands to the east of the Mississippi, 
but later they moved to the shores of Mobile Bay. Later 
still, in 1 7 18, New Orleans was founded. To counteract this 
renewed colonizing activity of the French in the south, the 
Spaniards founded the town of Pensacola. Louisiana, as 




1763] 



Expulsion of the French 



115 



the French termed this southern colony, grew very slowly ; 
the people were frequently on the edge of starvation, and 
they were attacked by the Indians as the French never were 
in Canada. In time, however, settlements were made higher 
up the river, and other colonies were planted on the upper 
waters of the Missis- 
sippi system. The 
next step was to unite 
Canada and Louisi- 
ana by a chain of 
posts extending down 
the Ohio River. This 
attempt brought on 
war with the English, 
who had now (1754) 
begun to direct their 
attention to the trade 
of the fertile country 
immediately west of 
the Alleghanies. 

105. Expulsion of 
the French, 1754-63. 
— The building of 
Fort Duquesne by the 
French at the conflu- 
ence of the Alleghany and Monongahela rivers brought mat- 
ters to a crisis (1754). The English in Virginia protested, 
and, not being heeded, sent a small army under Colonel 
Washington to enforce their protest. He was defeated and 
forced to surrender. From this beginning the conflict 
rapidly enlarged and soon became merged in a tremendous 
war which broke out in Europe in 1756 and is known 
in history as the Seven Years' War. England was now the 
ally of Frederick the Great of Prussia ; against them was 
arrayed the mighty power of France, Spain, and Austria. 
This conflict made many military reputations, — Frederick 
in Europe, Clive in India, Wolfe and Amherst in America ; 




Bienville 



French and 
Indian War, 

1754-63- 

Parkman's 

Montcahn 

and Wolfe ; 

Winsor's 

America, 

V, ch. viii. 



ii6 



A Century of Colonial History [§ 105 



Peace of 
Paris, 1763. 
American 
History Leaf- 
lets, No. 5; 
Hinsdale's 
Old North- 
west, ch. V, 
Maps, pp. 
62 and 63. 



it also brought to power the greatest war minister England 
has ever produced, — William Pitt. For America it re- 
sulted in the retirement of the French from the continent 
of North America. This arrangement was embodied in 
a great international agreement known as the Peace of 
Paris of 1763. By this treaty France ceded to Great Britain 

all her possessions in 
North America east of 
the Mississippi and of 
the island on which 
New Orleans stands, 
with the exception of 
two small islands in 
the Gulf of St. Law- 
rence. Spain, on her 
part, ceded to Great 
Britain her colony of 
Florida in exchange 
for Havana, which the 
English had occupied 
during the war. To 
recompense Spain for 
this loss, France ceded 
to her all of the French possessions in America west of the 
Mississippi and also the island on which New Orleans 
stands. The treaties further provided that vessels of 
Spain and Great Britain should enjoy the free navigation 
of the Mississippi. Moreover, it was agreed that the French 
colonists in Canada should be allowed the exercise of the 
Roman Catholic religion " so far as the laws of Great 
Britain permit." The British monarch, on his part, gave 
up his claim to lands west of the Mississippi. The impor- 
tance of this settlement in the history of the English- 
American colonists can hardly be overstated. Relieved of 
the pressure from without, which they had manfully with- 
stood for so many years, they were free to develop their 
material resources and to protest without fear of foreign 




Wolfe 



i763] 



The Proclamation of lySj 



117 



attack against measures of the British government which 
threatened their prosperity or their free institutions. At 
once the English authorities made arrangements for the 
government of its new dominions, and in so doing trenched 
heavily on the rights of at least three of the colonies. 

106. The Proclamation of 1763. — The most important 
and pressing need was to make provision for the govern- 
ment of those portions of the new dominions that were 
already occupied by Europeans. The king therefore issued 
a proclamation (1763) establishing three new English prov- 
inces : Quebec, and East and West Florida. The southern 
boundary of Quebec was stated to be the forty-fifth parallel 
from the St. Lawrence River to the highlands which sepa- 
rate " the rivers that empty themselves into the said St. 
Lawrence from those which fall into the sea " and along 
those "highlands" to the Bay of Chaleurs. It is important 
to note this line with care, as it was not merely the southern 
boundary of Quebec from 1 763 to 1 774 : it was the northern 
limit of the English colonies when they became independent 
states (§ 164). 

The northern boundary of the Floridas is also interesting, 
as it was adopted in the treaty of 1783 to describe the 
southern boundary of the United States (§ 164). Leaving 
the Mississippi in latitude thirty-one, the line followed that 
parallel to the Chattahoochee River, thence down that stream 
to its junction with the Flint ; from this point it ran in 
a straight line to the source of the St. Mary's and down 
that stream to the Atlantic Ocean. The Floridas were sepa- 
rated into two provinces by the Chattahoochee, or Appa- 
lachicola, as it was called after its confluence with the Flint. 
The boundary of West Florida was pushed farther north in 
the commissions issued to the governors of that province, 
to include within its limits several settlements on the Mis- 
sissippi ; this line was the parallel (32° 30') of the confluence 
of the Yazoo and Mississippi from the latter river to the 
Chattahoochee. The territory between East Florida and 
Georgia, or between the St. Mary's and the Altamaha, 



Royal Proc- 
lamation 
of 1763. 
American 
History 
I.eajlets, 
No. 5, p. 10; 
Hinsdale's 
Old North- 
west, ch. viii, 
Quebec, 
1763. 



The 

Floridas, 

1763-83' 



Georgia 
enlarged. 



Il8 A Century of Colonial History [§ io6 

which up to this time had been regarded as a portion of 
South CaroHna, was now added to Georgia. Between the 
Floridas and Quebec, as defined in the proclamation, there 
stretched a vast region inhabited by Indians, with a few 
French setderaents north of the Ohio; this was for the 




Atlantic 
colonies 
confined to 
seaboard. 



The Proclamation of 1763 

present reserved to the Indians by a provision of the proc- 
lamation which forbade the governors of the colonies on 
the seaboard to grant lands " west of the sources of rivers 
which flow into the Atlantic from the west and northwest." 
This territory had already been granted by the king to 
companies or individuals : the grantees of Virginia, Caro- 
lina, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, and Massachu- 
setts. The rights under the first three of the above grants 
had returned to the crown. The king could do what he 
pleased with as much of this region as had been included 



1754] 



The Albany Congress 



119 



in those grants, but a royal proclamation could not annul 
rights derived by charter, and the claims of Pennsylvania, 
Connecticut, and Massachusetts remained as good as they 
had ever been. 

107. The Albany Congress, 1754. — The long series of 
wars which came to an end in 1763 had tended to bring 
the several English colonies together. Frequently, it had 
been necessary to take combined action against the French 
and their Indian allies, and conferences had been held from 
time to time from 1684 onwards. The most famous of 
these meetings was the one held at Albany in 1754, and 
known as the Albany Congress ; but the word " congress," 
as now used in America, is inapplicable : it was rather a 
conference or convention, in our political language. The 
meeting was held by direction of the British Board of 
Trade and Plantations ; its object was the purchase and 
settlement of lands then in the possession of the natives, 
and it was also designed to provide some scheme for united 
action in the event of another war with the French. The 
congress adopted a Plan of Union, always known as the 
Albany Plan, which was the work mainly of Benjamin 
Franklin, one of the delegates from Pennsylvania. Many 
schemes of a similar nature had been proposed before this, 
but none had received an official sanction such as the Albany 
Congress may be said to have given to this one. Most of 
the earlier projects had contemplated the grouping of the 
colonies into two or three divisions ; the Albany Plan 
provided for a federation of all the colonies for certain 
specified objects. The functions of the federal body were 
mainly advisory, as were those of the commissioners of the 
New England Confederation. These duties were to be per- 
formed by a President-General appointed by the crown, 
and a Grand Council elected by the popular branches of the 
several colonial assemblies. The weak point in the New 
England Confederation had been the equal vote of the 
several colonies, regardless of their size"" or importance 
(p. 80) ; this defect was now remedied by apportioning the 



Intercolonial 

Congress 

of 1754. 

Fiske's 

Revolution, 

I, 7-10; 

*Froth- 

ingham's 

Republic, 

ch. iv. 



The "Albany 
Plan of 
Union " 

(1754)- 
American 
History 
Leaflets, 
No. 14; 
Old South 
Leaflets, Gen. 
Ser., No. 9. 



120 



A Century of Colonial History [§ io8 



Results of 

Albany 

Congress. 



Numbers. 



members of the Grand Council among the colonies accord- 
ing to " the proportion of money arising out of each colony 
to the general treasury." The plan proved distasteful to all 
parties whose consent was asked to it : the English govern- 
ment dreaded it, as stimulating the democratic tendencies of 
the colonists ; the colonial assemblies unanimously rejected 
it, because it seemed to them to increase the power of the 
crown. 

The Albany Congress was an important step in the pro- 
cess of colonial union, because many of the leading men 
from the different colonies met together ; their discussions 
increased the sense of the common interest, and aided to 
diminish the prejudices which the people of many provinces 
felt toward their fellow-subjects in other colonies. The 
French wars, by bringing soldiers together from different 
parts of the continent, also operated in the same direction. 
Moreover, during the last French and Indian war, Colonel 
Washington of Virginia journeyed northward to the army 
headquarters at Boston, to lay before the commander in 
chief the complaints of colonial officers in the matter of 
relative rank in the British forces. It was in this way that 
his striking figure and dignified presence became familiar 
to the people of the Middle Colonies and of New Eng- 
land. 

io8. Statistics of Population, 1760. — In 1760 the 
English-American colonists numbered about one million six 
hundred thousand souls, including negroes, both slave and 
free. About one half of this population liv^ed on either side 
of Mason and Dixon's line (p. 99). There were nearly four 
hundred thousand negro slaves in the English colonies, 
three fourths of whom lived in the South. In this way it 
happened that the white population of the colonies south of 
Pennsylvania was considerably less than that of the North. 
Mason and Dixon's line even then divided the country into 
two well-marked sections : north of it varied industry and 
free labor prevailed ; south of it the cultivation of one or 
two staples by forced labor was the rule. 



I760J 



Negro Slavery 



121 



109. Negro Slavery. — Slavery existed in all the colonies, 
but it was fast dying out in the North, although there does 
not appear, however, to have been any widespread sentiment 
against it in that section. The northern slave traders, for 
instance, were among the most substantial men of their time 
and place. A few persons had written against it, notably 
Samuel Sewall, in The Selling of Joseph. In New York and 
New Jersey slavery existed to a limited extent. The slaves 
were treated in a most lenient manner in both these colo- 
nies, except in two instances, when the fear of negro up- 
risings produced a panic ; many were then unjustly hanged 
or branded, and one was broken on the wheel. 

In Pennsylvania there was a more widespread public sen- 
timent against the institution of slavery than in any other 
colony, as the Quakers found it difficult to reconcile the 
ownership of human beings with the principles of their 
religion. Slavery also was unsuited to the agriculture of 
that province. In Delaware, on the other hand, it flourished 
and endured until the Civil War. 

South of Pennsylvania the case was different. Slaves 
formed about thirty per cent of the population of Maryland, 
about forty per cent of that of Virginia, and about sixty per 
cent of that of South Carolina. Only recently it had been 
legally permitted in Georgia, but there it was now making 
rapid advances. In North Carolina slaves formed a smaller 
proportion of the population than in either of the colonies 
on. its borders : in one of the western counties of that prov- 
ince, it has been said that no slave was ever owned. Slavery 
was less suited to the industries of North Carolina than it 
was to those of South Carolina, and the settlers of the western 
counties resembled the small farmers of the North in their 
prejudices and sentiments. 

In Maryland and Virginia the slaves, as a rule, were well 
treated. The cultivation of tobacco was comparatively easy, 
the slaves worked under the eye of the owner, they also 
labored beside the white servants, who formed a large pro- 
portion of the working element in the colonies on Chesa- 



Slavery in 
the Northern 
colonies. 
Stedman and 
Hutchinson, 
II, 189; ibid, 
111,86. 



New York 
Negro Plot. 
*Chandler's 
Criminal 
Trials, I, 
213-254- 



Slavery in 
Maryland 
and Virginia 
Hart's Con- 
temporaries, 
I, No. 87. 



122 



A Century of Colonial History [§ 109 



In South 
Carolina. 



White 
servants. 



peake Bay. The slave code, in so far as it regulated meet- 
ings, the possession of arms, and running away, was severe, 
even authorizing the dismemberment of a slave found abroad 
at night without a license. In practice, however, the treat- 
ment of slaves was humane in both these provinces. In South 
Carolina the negroes outnumbered the whites. The malarial 
climate of the rice swamps induced the planters to seek the 
sea breezes of Charleston during a large part of the year, 
while the negroes on the rice plantations were left to the 
oversight of a white superintendent aided by black slave 
drivers. The conditions under which rice was cultivated 
were harmful to the negroes also : the labor was severe, and 
the slaves became rapidly worn out. It was profitable, there- 
fore, to work them to the uttermost during their season of 
bodily vigor. Constant supplies of new slaves were neces- 
sary, and these were procured direct from Africa in northern 
and in English slave ships. These newcomers were less 
obedient than slaves born and bred in America, as most of 
those in Maryland and Virginia were. The severity of the 
labor and the wildness of the negroes led to constant attempts 
on their part to escape across the Savannah River to the 
wilderness of Georgia, and eventually to Spanish Florida. 
This propensity to run away was met by laws offering rewards 
for the arrest or destruction of the fugitive : fifty pounds was . 
given to the captor of a runaway, if brought back alive, — 
ten pounds only if the scalp was returned ; these rewards 
were for negroes found south of the Savannah River ; the 
ordinary amount paid for a negro's scalp was one pound. 
The laws were necessarily more odious in South Carolina 
than in Virginia; but the main difference lay not so much in 
dissimilarity of laws as in the actual treatment of the slaves, 
which could be much milder in Virginia than in South 
Carolina. 

no. White Servitude. — White persons, bound to service 
for a term of years, formed an important element in many 
colonies, especially in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia. 
Most of those employed in Pennsylvania were Redemptioners, 



1760] White Servitude 123 

who bound themselves to serve for a limited time, generally 
four years, to pay their expenses from their old home to the 
New World. They were usually of a good class of immigrants, 
and after the end of their time of service became farmers and 
were merged in the white population of the colony. 

In the provinces on Chesapeake Bay, however, the con- Convicts in 
ditions of white servitude were not so favorable. There 7''^^'?'^?"'' 

Maryland. 

many of the white servants were convicts transported from 
England and bound out to service for long terms of years. 
This traffic was carried on by authority of acts of Parliament 
passed in the eighteenth century, which permitted a convict 
to ask in open court to have his sentence commuted, in the 
case of the death penalty, to fourteen years' service, while 
whipping and branding might be commuted by seven years' 
service ; in either case, return to England before expiration 
of term of service was punishable with death. The people 
of Virginia and Maryland strongly objected to this inroad of 
criminals, and sought to limit the evil by passing laws re- 
stricting their importation. These laws, however, as well as 
those limiting the slave trade, were either annulled or vetoed 
by the king, as being contrary to acts of Parliament. 

III. Religion. — The religious life of the inhabitants of Religion: 
the several colonies was largely determined by the conditions '^^'^ Estab- 
of settlement. These have already been mentioned ; but church, 
other considerations had profoundly affected religion, and it 
will be well to examine briefly the actual state of affairs in 
1760. The Church of England was completely estabUshed 
by law in only one colony, — Maryland. No matter what 
their religious preferences were, all taxpayers in that province 
were compelled to contribute to the support of the minister 
of the Established Church. In the Carolinas the church 
was recognized by law as the state church, but there was 
complete toleration for all Christians in those colonies. The 
church was also estabhshed in Virginia, but its management 
was largely in the hands of the planters. The Church of 
England was weak in the Northern colonies, except in New 
York, where it was steadily gaining strength. 



New 

England 

Congrega- 

tionalists. 

•Stedman 

and 

Hutchinson, 

11. 373-4"- 



124 A Century of Colonial History [§ m 

In New England, save in Rhode Island, the Congregational 
Church was cherished by colonial laws, but, on the other 
hand, the actual management of religion was in the hands of 
the local religious authorities. The New England clergy, of 
whom Jonathan Edwards is the best example, formed a caste 
almost as completely as did the Virginia planters. In Penn- 
sylvania and Rhode Island religion was absolutely free. In 
other colonies there was a species of toleration for Protes- 
tants, but, except in Pennsylvania, the Roman Catholics vi^ere 
everywhere debarred from civil rights or subjected to severe 
penalties. 

As the century advanced, the Protestant dissenters be- 
came more and more numerous in the Old Dominion. 
Alarmed at this turn of affairs, the rulers of the colony made 
stringent laws against them, but in 1760 probably nearly one 
half of the white population of Virginia was outside of the 
Established Church. The weakness of the church was due 
in part to the poor character of many of its ministers. In 
these circumstances it seemed very desirable that an Ameri- 
can bishop should be appointed who could exercise much 
more effective control than the far-off Bishop of London. 
As often as this plan was proposed, it was defeated. The 
American clergy did not want a bishop near at hand, nor 
did the laymen, especially in Virginia, desire to give up the 
control which they exercised over the clergy of the several 
parishes. The members of the dissenting faiths were filled 
with alarm : their ancestors had fled from England to avoid 
the control exercised by bishops and it was of slight 
use to inform them that an American bishop would have 
only such civil power as the laws of each colony might give 
him. They enlisted the sympathies of their fellow-dissenters 
in England, and no bishop was ever appointed. The Revo- 
lution did away with the authority of English law in the 
United States, and at once all objections to the appointment 
of bishops were remored (p. 228). 

112. Education. — Throughout New England, except in 
Rhode Island, provision was made for the teaching of read- 



1 760] R eligio n 125 

ing, writing, and elementary mathematics, and the larger 
towns generally provided instruction of a sufficiently ad- 
vanced grade to fit students for the New England colleges. 
The Dutch had provided educational facilities in connection 
with their religious establishments, and this latter feature 
proved to be fatal to them after the English conquest. 
There does not appear to have been any provision for gen- 
eral public instruction in New York in 1760. In New Jer- 
sey and Pennsylvania, the Quakers and the Presbyterians 
endeavored to educate the young. In Maryland there were a 
few schools supported by general taxation, but they exerted 
slight influence. The Virginians from time to time had en- 
deavored to relieve their colony of the reproach contained 
in the well-known boast of the old royalist governor. Sir 
William Berkeley, that he " thanked God there were no free 
schools " in the province. Their efforts do not seem to have 
led to tangible results, for the whole life of Virginia was op- 
posed to general education. The children of well to do 
parents received instruction at the hands of a private tutor 
or of the parish clergyman ; those who could not afford to pay 
for private tuition for their children taught them as well as 
they could. WiUiam and Mary College was not unlike an 
Enghsh public school of that time, and it furnished the Vir- 
ginians of the richer class with a good education. Many 
Virginians were good classical scholars, and many more had 
studied deeply the constitutional history of England. There 
was not a public educational institution of any kind south of 
Virginia; but the Carolina planters were well educated, 
having attended colleges in the north or institutions of learn- 
ing in England. 

There were then some half dozen colleges or universities The 
in the colonies: Harvard, Yale, King's (Columbia), New colleges. 
Jersey (Princeton), Pennsylvania, and William and Mary. 
Their scheme of education was largely framed for the 
training of clergymen of one faith or another. None of 
them was much above the grade of a high school of the 
present day, but they performed a useful service in keep- 



126 A Century of Colonial History [§ "^ 

ing alive a love of learning. Only one of them can be 
regarded as a place of scientific education ; this was the 
University of Pennsylvania, which had been founded by 
Franklin. Organized on a liberal basis, it grew rapidly, 
and in five years after its beginning had four hundred 
students on its rolls. 
Law and Medical education was beginning to attract attention, 

medicine. |jy|. ^|^g Qj^|y profession which vied with that of the 
clergy was the law. Its rise belongs almost entirely to 
the eighteenth century, and it was the generation which 
brought about the separation from England that gave the 
legal profession its high standing. It is surprising to 
note how many men who were prominent in this great 
movement were lawyers : James Otis, John Adams, 
Stephen Hopkins, Roger Sherman, John Jay, Thomas 
McKean, Patrick Henry, Thomas Jefferson, and the Rut- 
ledges, to mention no others. They gave to the period 
of the Revolution a legal aspect which has ever since 
been one of the distinguishing characteristics of Ameri- 
can politics. 

SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS AND TOPICS 
§§ 78-83. New England, 1660-64 

a. Give a brief sketch of English history, 1660-1760. 

b. Place in a note-book, as a heading, " England's Commercial Pol- 
icy," and enter under it all fitting information as you proceed. 

c. Compare the commercial policy of England at different periods 
with that of the United States to-day. 

d. Compare the policy of Massachusetts as to the Quakers with that 
of the United States as to immigrants at the present time. 

§§ 86-90. Pennsylvania 

a. Place in note-book, as heading, "Mason and Dixcn's line," 
and enter all fitting information as you proceed. 

b. Compare the government of Pennsylvania under the charter of 
1701 with that of Massachusetts, of Connecticut, of Virginia, and of 
Carolina at the same time. 



Questions and Topics 127 

§§ 91-92. The Carolinas 

a. Compare the settlement of Charleston with that of Byzantium. 

b. Compare '' colonial life " in Charleston, in Boston, in Philadel- 
phia, in Williamsburg, and in New York. 

§§ 93-96. Virginia 

a. Justify from the text the byword, " ungrateful as a Stuart." 

b. Compare the treatment and the actions of the Virginians and of 
the Massachusetts men in the years 1660-76. Which group of colo- 
nists showed the greater political sagacity ? Prove your statement. 

c. Find out all you can about the early years of Harvard College, 
of Yale College, and of William and Mary College. 

§§ 97-ioo> 102, 103. Constitutional Struggles 

a. Show by recital of events that an identical struggle was going on 
in England and in the colonies. What was the nature of this struggle ? 
Describe the government established in Massachusetts under Andros. 

b. Contrast the Dominion of New England with the New England 
Confederation and the plan proposed by the Albany Congress. 

§§ 99-108. The Colonies, 1688-1760 

a. State carefully the effect of the glorious Revolution upon each 
■':olony separately, and its general influence upon the fortunes of English 
America. 

b. Compare the steady growth in the power of representative legis- 
lative bodies in the colonies and in England from 1 688-1 760, and give 
the causes in each case. 

c. In the quarrels with the royal governors, what important princi- 
ple was at stake ? What effect upon these quarrels would the appoint- 
ment of the treasurer by the Assembly have ? 

§ 100. Georgia 

a. Compare Oglethorpe's colony of Georgia with Penn's colony of 
Pennsylvania. 

b. What matter in this section should be entered under " Negro 
Slavery " ? 

§§ 103-107. Wars 

a. Give a brief sketch of the reigns of Louis XIV and Louis XV. 

b. Place in note-book, as heading, " Important Treaties," noting in 
each case: (i) date, (2) the concluding powers, (3) why important 
— note especially boundary provisions, (4) how long observed, (5) how 
conditions to-day are affected by it. 



128 A Century of Colonial History 

c. Review history of Acadia ; compare Acadians as described by 
Parkman and by Longfellow. 

d. Consider the wars mentioned in these sections, so far as they 
related to America, under the following heads : (i) Causes ; (2) occa- 
sion ; (3) strength of the combatants ; (4) preliminaries to ■ actual 
struggle ; (5) military operations— briefly; (6) results of war, (a) po- 
litical, especially geographical, representing them in colors upon Outline 
Map, (Jb) moral ; (7) importance in history of the world. 

e. In what way did this war contribute to bring about the American 
Revolution ? 

§ 107. The Albany Congress 

a. What was the greatest weakness in the Albany plan ? 

b. Why was it rejected ? Give your reasons in full, 

§§ 108-112. General View of Colonial Conditions 

a. What matter in § no should be entered in note-book under 
« Negro Slavery " ? Why ? 

b. What matter in these sections should be entered under " Power 
of Congress " ? 

c. Show the preparation in colonial times for the later separation 
of Church and State. 

d. Seek the educational statistics of the United States and describe 
the educational condition of each region mentioned in § 112. Do the 
same relative differences exist in both epochs ? Give your reasons. 

e. As you advance, prove the truth of the statement on p. 126, "a 
legal aspect . . . American politics." Place it as heading in note-book. 
Is it true to-day ? 

Historical Geography 

a. Upon two Outline Maps represent in colors the different Euro- 
pean possessions in North America {a) before the Peace of Paris and 
(U) after that settlement. 

b. Represent in colors upon an OutHne Map the English king's 
division of his American possessions in 1763. 

c. Represent in colors upon an Outline Map the territory betv/een 
the Alleghanies and the Mississippi as divided between the king, Penn- 
sylvania, Connecticut, and Massachusetts in 1763. 

d. Make the necessary changes in your maps on Territorial History 
and in the map of your own state. 

General Questions 

a. Give a bird's-eye view of the English colonies in 1760, noting r 
(i) geographical extent of each colony ; (2) distribution of popula- 



Questions and Topics 129 

tion ; (3) slaves and servants ; (4) institutions (a) derived from 
England, (J)) adopted from other sources or invented. 

b. Trace colonial institutions towards division of powers, limited 
power of legislative bodies. Contrast with contemporary English 
development towards centralization of power, supremacy of Par- 
liament. 

c. Make digest of chapter in recitation hour. 

d. Review all subjects in note-book and prepare each as a con- 
tinuous recitation. 

e. Let written recitations be demanded on any points touched in 
the questions. 

Topics for Investigation by Individual Students 
(See note under this head on p. 48.) 

a. A summary of the Navigation Ordinances and Acts (90, last one 
of second group). 

b. The trials of the Quakers (91, second group), 

c. Bacon's Rebellion (104, last two of first group). 

d. The causes of King Philip's War (104, last one of third group) 
and top of 105. 

e. Was Leisler a rebel (107, second group)? 

f. La Salle's Mississippi exploration (114, second group). 

g. Plans of Union, 1643-1754 (119, second group). 



CHAPTER IV 

INTERCOLONIAL UNION, 1 760-1 774 
Books for ConsTiltation 

General Readings. — Fiske's War of Independence, 39-86 ; Hig- 
ginson's Larger History, 223-249; Winsor's America, VI, I-62 ; 
Lodge's English Colonies, 476-494- On this period in England, Gar- 
diner's Student's History, 765-782, or Higginson and Channing's 
English History for Americans. 

Special Accounts. — Sloane's French War and the Revolution, 
I16-191; Greene's Historical View; Frothingham's Rise of the Re- 
public; Fiske's American Revolution; *Lecky's England, III, ch. 
xii ; *Bancroft's United States; *Hildreth's United States; Roose- 
velt's Winning of the West; Larned's History for Ready Reference, 
under United States and the several states. 

Sources. — Local Records and Histories, Guide, § 133; Biogra- 
phies, Guide, § 135, especially Tudor's Otis; Hutchinson's Massachu- 
setts ; Htmy'^ Patrick Henry ; 'Giles's Principles and Acts ; *rorce's 
American Archives; Hart's Contemporaries; American History Leaflets. 

Maps. — Hart's Epoch Maps, No. 5 ; Mac Coun's Historical Geog- 
raphy; Winsor's America, VI. 

Bibliography. — Channing and Hart, Guide to American History, 
§§ 56 a and 56 b (General Readings), §§ 133-136 (Topics and 
References). 

Illustrative Material. — Lossing's Field-Book of the Revolution ; 
Adams's Three Episodes ; Parton's /if^^rjow and Franklin; Schouler's 
fefferson (M.A.) ; Seeley's Expansion of England ; *Merivale's Colo- 
nization ; Tyler's American Literature ; ♦Baird's Huguenot Emigra- 
tion ; Ann Mzmy^s Huguenot Family ; John Adams's Z>/(7rj'/ Winsor's 
Memorial History of Boston ; Wilson's Memorial History of New 
York; Egle's Pennsylvania; Scharf's Philadelphia and Maryland; 
Campbell's Virginia; Jones's Georgia; "Weeden's Economic and 
Social History of New England ; Mahon's England, ch. xliii ; Hos- 
mer's Samuel Adams (S.S.); * Ford's True George Washington, and 
h\i Many-sided Franklin; Fia.r)k\m's Autobiography ; Tyler's Patrici 



1760] 



Change in British Policy 



131 



Henry (S.S.); Hosmer's Thomas Hutchinson ; Mrs. Child's The Rebels ; 
Cooke's Vii-ginia (A. C); Youth of Jefferson ; Fairfax; Doctor Van- 
dyke; Hawthorne's Septimius Felton ; Sedgwick's The Linwoods ; 
Bynner's Agnes Surriage ; Longfellow's Tales of a Wayside Inn; 
\xsm^% Life of Washington (abridged ed.); Parkman's Conspiracy of 
Pontiac ; I'hompson's Green Mountain Boys. 



and Britain 
before 1760. 



America, 
VI. 62-68; 
Fiske's 
Revolution, 
I, 1-6. 



INTERCOLONIAL UNION, 1 760-1 774 

113. Change in the Colonial Policy of Britain. — In the The colonies 
forty years between 1720 and 1760 there had been incessant 
political strife between the colonists and the representatives «win 
of the British government. These disputes had been essen- 
tially local and personal, — in regard to such matters as the 
taxation of proprietaries' lands, the extension of the fran- 
chise, the importation of convicts, the raising of troops, 
the issue of paper money, the organization of banks on 
insecure foundations, and the establishment of courts of 
law. Generally the opposition of the colonists had taken 
the form of a refusal to vote money for salaries or for sol- 
diers until their demands were complied with; but some- 
times, as, for example, in the dispute over the taxation of 
proprietaries' lands in Pennsylvania and the establishment 
of a religious test for voting in South Carolina, the colo- 
nists had carried the matter to England and had won their 
point; in other cases the home govermnent had inter- 
fered and had forbidden the colonists to do what they 
wished, as in the case of the Massachusetts land-banks. But 
no serious opposition had been aroused, probably because 
the colonists felt confidence in the justice of the British 
govermnent; this feeling was due to the prudent colonial 
policy of Sir Robert Walpole and his immediate successors. 
They were mainly interested in securing the safe establish- 
ment of the monarchs of the House of Hanover on the 
throne of England, and had carefully avoided all measures 
which seemed likely to arouse opposition at home or in 
the colonies. 

In 1760 George III ascended the throne. Born in 



132 



Intercolonial Union 



[§ 114 



George III 
and his 
policy. 
Fiske's 

Revolution, 

38-45 ; 

*Frothing- 
ham's 
Republic, 
158-166. 



Restrictions 
on trade and 
manufac- 
tures. 
Winsor's 
America, 
VI. 7-10. 



England, he was ambitious to rule well and to regain for 
the monarchy the power which the kings had once wielded 
in the state. The execution of this project brought about 
the fall of the old governing aristocracy and the employ- 
ment of inferior men, who would do their master's bidding. 
They heedlessly adopted a policy from which Walpole had 
recoiled. The opposition championed the cause of the 
colonists, and the re-establishment of the king's power in 
Britain became inextricably bound up with the mainte- 
nance of his authority in the colonies. These considera- 
tions will enable the student of the revolutionary epoch 
to understand more clearly the history of that memorable 
period. The first conflict, however, arose out of an attempt 
to enforce the Navigation Acts, and the impulse to this 
movement was given by William Pitt. 

114. The Colonial System, 1688-1760. — The principal 
features of the colonial system before the Revolution of 
1688 have been already traced (p. 90). From that time 
restrictions were gradually increased, and the list of enu- 
merated goods was constantly enlarged. On the other 
hand, bounties and premiums were provided for the en- 
couragement of the production of commodities for which 
the colonies were well suited. 

Restrictions were also laid on colonial manufactures 
which were likely to come into competition with English 
interests. The earliest of these laws was passed in 1699 ; it 
prohibited the exportation of wool or any manufacture of 
wool from any American colony to any other colony, to 
Great Britain, or to any foreign country. Subsequently, 
an attempt was made to limit the iron industry of the colo- 
nies to the production of crude iron alone; all the later 
stages of its manufacture were to be performed in Britain. 
Adam Smith, England's greatest economist, wrote of this 
part of the colonial system, that it was "a manifest viola- 
tion of the most sacred rights of mankind." Regarding 
the system as a whole, it is impossible to say that it was 
to the disadvantage of the colonists: it is true that the 



1760] Difficulties in Enforcing the Latus 133 

Virginians were forbidden to ship their tobacco to a foreign 
port, but they were given a monopoly of the British tobacco 
markets; the New England shipowners could not legally 
engage in foreign trade, but they enjoyed a share in the 
monopoly of the carrying trade of the British Empire; 
the South Carolinians could not ship their rice to Euro- 
pean ports north of Cape Finisterre, but they were paid 
a large bounty on all the rice they exported. 

The act which might have inflicted hardship was the The Sugar 
" Sugar Act " of 1 733. This law provided for the collection ^^^^ ^^33- 
of high duties on foreign sugar, molasses, or rum imported 
into any colonial port on the continent of North America. 
Had this been carried out, it would have brought disaster 
to New England, as the African trade of that section de- 
pended on a supply of cheap molasses, which was made 
into rum and then exchanged on the Guinea coast for 
slaves, gold, and palm oil. 

115. Difficulties in Enforcing the Laws. — It proved to Opposition 
be well-nigh impossible to enforce these laws. The New °^ ^^^ ^^"^ 
Englanders, who were mainly concerned in their evasion, "^ ^" 
were hostile to them, and the royal customs officials in the 
colonies found that the easiest road to the acquisition of 
wealth lay in combining with the importers : collectors of 
customs in the English West Indies granted fraudulent 
clearances, which were accepted by the collectors of cus- 
toms in the New England ports, and merchants were per- 
mitted to discharge vessels laden with dutiable goods in 
the absence of the customs officials. 

During the last war with France, northern merchants en- 
gaged in an unpatriotic and illegal trade with the French, 
supplying their posts with provisions. Pitt ordered the 
customs officials to do their duty, and, by a display of zeal, 
they endeavored to atone for their former laxity. It was 
found to be most difficult to carry out Pitt's instructions: 
it was not easy to seize goods on which no duty had been 
paid; it was practically impossible to secure a conviction 
from a colonial jury. 



134 



Intercolonial Union 



[§ ii6 



Search 
warrants. 



Writs of 
assistance. 
Winsor's 
America, 
VI, 1 1- 1.5. 



The ordinary method to secure the seizure of suspected 
goods was to issue a search warrant. This warrant em- 
powered the person named in it to go to a designated place 
and seize certain goods therein deposited, which on the 
information of some person named in the warrant were 
believed to be smuggled. The document was afterwards 
deposited in the records of the court, with a statement of 
what had been done in accordance with its provisions. 
In this way the name of the informer became known; and 
in a community where the general sentiment was one of 
fierce opposition to the enforcement of these laws, he was 
sure to be dealt with most severely, and other persons who 
might be wilUng to inform were likely to be frightened into 
silence. The owners of suspected goods also received early 
notice of an intended seizure, and removed them to another 
warehouse or across the street. The customs officials were 
powerless, as the warrant authorized them to seize only par- 
ticular goods in a stated place. 

ii6. Writs of Assistance, 1761. — To avoid these com- 
plications, the customs officers armed themselves with a 
species of warrant called a "writ of assistance," that author- 
ized them to seize any goods which they suspected to be 
smuggled, wherever found. This power might easily be 
misused for purposes of personal revenge and undoubtedly 
was so abused. The first warrants were issued by Governor 
Shirley of Massachusetts, who had no authority to grant 
them. Accordingly, in 1761, the customs officers applied to 
the Superior Court for new warrants. The king's advocate 
in the province at that time was James Otis, an ardent, able, 
and patriotic man. He resigned his office, and appeared 
for the merchants of Boston in opposition to the issuance of 
the writs. He made a speech which had great efTect upon 
the popular mind, and is often and rightly regarded as the 
first act in the American Revolution. Unfortunately, it has 
been preserved only in the form of fragmentary notes taken 
by John Adams, then a student of law at Boston. 

The matter really turned on narrow technical points which 



I76I] 



Writs of Assistance 



135 




James Otis 



need not be mentioned here. Otis based his argument on 
the abstract grounds of the rights of the colonists as Enghsh- 
men. The use of writs of assistance, he argued, was an act 
of tyranny similar ^to the abuse of power which had " cost 
one king of England his 
head, another his throne." 
It was not to the point that 
these writs were authorized 
by an act of Parhament, 
because Parliament could 
not legalize tyranny ; such 
an act would be against 
the constitution, and con- 
sequently void. This argu- 
ment was in line with the 
teaching of Coke and of the 
earlier law writers, but since 
their time Parliament had 
become the supreme power 
in the state. Otis's argument, however weak in point of law, 
was in harmony with the ideas then prevalent in America. 
Some months later, the writs were granted by the court, but 
were seldom, if ever, used. In 1 767 their issue was declared 
to be legal by a special act of Parliament. The only remedy 
in the hands of the colonists was resistance by armed force, 
and for that few colonists as yet were prepared. 

117. Otis's Rights of the Colonies, 1764. — A few years 
later Otis embodied his ideas of the rights of the colonists 
in two essays, entitled : A Vindication of the House of Rep- 
resentatives and The Rights of tJie Colonies Asserted and 
Proved. His arguments in these papers are mainly a mere 
restatement of the ground assumed by Locke in his Essay 
on Government. Otis asserted that " God made all men 
naturally equal," and that government was instituted for 
the benefit of the governed : it followed that if a govern- 
ment were harmful to the people, it should be opposed 
and destroyed ; the colonists were on a footing of com- 



Otis's 

speech. 

American 

History 

Leaflets, 

No. 33. 



Otis's essays 
on govern- 
ment. 
*Frothing- 
ham's 
Republic, 
168-170. 



136 



Intercolonial Union 



[§ ii8 



plete equality with the subjects of the king hving in 
Great Britain. In conclusion, however, Otis admitted the 
supremacy of the British Parliament, and thus denied the 
logical conclusion of his argument. Patrick Henry, of 
Virginia, had no such scruples, and in his speech on the 
Parson's Cause he stated the theory of colonial rights in its 
complete form. 




The Parson's 
Cause, 1763. 
Fiske's 
Revolution, 
I, 18; Hart's 
Contempora- 
ries, II, No. 
37- 



Patrick Henry 

118. The Parson's Cause, 1763. — This celebrated case 
arose out of the exercise by the king of the power to veto 
acts of the Virginia Assembly. The salaries of the clergy- 
men of that province were estimated and paid in tobacco, 
which was the ordinary currency of the Old Dominion. 
The price of tobacco varied greatly from year to year, 
with the result that payments which were agreed upon in 
years of plenty, when tobacco was cheap, were made with 



1763] The Parson's Cause 137 

difficulty in years of scarcity, when it was high in price. 
To avoid the hardships wrought by this varying medium 
of exchange, the Virginia legislature from time to time 
had passed laws providing that all debts — including suras 
owing to clergymen — might be satisfied by the payment of 
money representing the average price of tobacco. There 
had been several acts permitting this arrangement, which, 
it must be understood, equally affected all classes. The 
clergy felt aggrieved, however, and appealed to the English 
government. On their representations the king annulled 
a law passed in 1758, when tobacco was very high, to the 
effect that debts estimated in tobacco might be satisfied by 
a money payment at so many pence per pound, the rate 
representing the average price of that commodity for the 
preceding years. The dispute was further complicated by 
the demand of the British government that no law repeal- 
ing or modifying a law then in force should be passed 
without a clause suspending its operation until the king's 
pleasure were known. This requirement undoubtedly 
worked great hardship, as the British government acted 
very slowly in colonial matters: oftentimes the evil which 
a law was designed to remedy would produce its ill effects 
before the consent of the home authorities could be ob- 
tained. 

Many church authorities did not heed the king's veto of Action of 
the act of 1758, and paid their ministers in money accord- Virginians, 
ing to the provisions of the annulled law. The clergymen 
brought the matter before the courts, and the case of one 
of their number, Maury by name, was selected as a test 
case. The court decided that the action of the parish 
authorities was illegal, and that Maury could recover; the 
only question about which there was any further dispute, 
was in regard to the amount to be recovered. The case had 
reached this point, and everything indicated the triumph 
of the clergymen, when the parish authorities employed 
Patrick Henry to address the jury. Henry was a most 
industrious young lawyer; he had received a good educa- 



138 



Intercolonial Union 



[§ 119 



Henry's 
speech. 
Tyler's Pat- 
rick Henry 
(S.S.).ch.iv. 



Ponfiac's 
Rebellion. 
Winsor's 
America, 
VI, 688-701. 



tion, was well read, and had been allowed to practice law 
because of his knowledge of English legal history. 

Putting aside the legalities of the case, Henry at once 
entered into a discussion of theories of government and 
their application to the matter in hand. Government, 
he declared, was a conditional compact between the king, 
stipulating protection on the one hand, and the people, 
stipulating obedience and support on the other. The act 
in question was passed for the good of the people of Vir- 
ginia, and its veto by the king was a violation of the con- 
ditional compact and an instance of misrule and neglect, 
which made it necessary for the people of Virginia to pro- 
vide for their own safety. The king had " degenerated into 
a tyrant and forfeited all right to his subjects' obedience." 
Nevertheless, under the ruling of the court, the jury must 
award damages to the parson, but they would satisfy the 
law by the smallest possible award. They assessed the 
damages at one penny. In this case, and in that of writs 
of assistance, Henry and Otis merely uttered what many 
men thought; they had said nothing new, but they had 

struck a heavy blow 
=^§^^?^^^^^g|^Vi^^jj at the continuance of 

a sentiment of loyalty. 
A heavier blow to that 
sentiment was inflicted 
by the British Parlia- 
ment in the passage 
of the Stamp Act. 

119. Grenville's Pol- 
icy. — The French and 
Indian War ended with the capture of Montreal in 1760, 
although the Treaty of Paris was not signed until 1763. 
But the Indians living south of the Great Lakes found it 
difificult to believe that their friends, the French, had really 
been beaten. They rose, and under the leadership of Pon- 
tiac, one of the ablest of their race, besieged the English 
in their fort at Detroit. 



Eighteea PENCE. 



. by /..lie null p,ri 
Y December j i , 1 76^ 



in VEW-Jl 



'T-HIS Bill, by i^lifni.llp.r.airreiit in Se<V. JERSEY, ^'j' 
1 lor ftiu- Pcnii^.wcit^hl, [fl] and Hiiu Griini M Pr*T«. .•^ii 



5 Eighteen- Pince. J 







New Jersey Currency 



*765] 



Grenville s Policy 



139 



The English colonists, now that the French were no 
longer an object of fear, showed little enthusiasm in this 
conflict with natives far removed from their borders. They 
practically refused to aid the government with soldiers or 
with money. This Indian rebelhon, and the maintenance of 
English authority in Canada, demanded the presence of a 
large force of regular soldiers in the northern colonies and 
in Canada. The British government determined to assess 
a portion of the expenditure incurred in their maintenance 
on the colonists. William Pitt was no longer in office. 
Undoubtedly he would have taken a statesmanlike view of 
the situation and have recognized the inexpediency of forc- 
ing contributions from the colonists. 

George Grenville, Pitt's brother-in-law, was now at the 
head of the government. To him the law was the law, and 
should be enforced whenever and wherever it was broken. 
He saw that the colonists refused to obey the Navigation 
Acts and the trade laws, and that they also declined to bear 
their part in carrying out measures which his military 
advisers declared to be necessary for the safety of the 
empire. He lowered the duties on sugar and molasses, 
and then proceeded to enforce the modified laws with all 
the resources at his command, even using the naval vessels 
as revenue cutters. These measures seriously affected the 
commercial interests of New England and account for much 
of the hatred of the colonists of that section toward the 
British government. Grenville also decided to raise a 
revenue from the colonies and aroused the resentment of 
all the colonists from the Penobscot to the Altamaha. 

120. Passage of the Stamp Act, 1765. — In March, 1764, 
Grenville stated in the House of Commons that it might 
be thought necessary for the colonists to contribute toward 
the support of the troops stationed amongst them for their 
protection. He moved a resolution to this effect, which 
was passed without debate or opposition. He deferred 
bringing in a bill based on this resolution, in the expecta- 
tion that the colonial assemblies might propose some other 



Apathy of 
the colonists 



Grenville's 

policy. 

*Winsor's 

America, 

VI, 15-20, 

23-28. 



Stamp Act 

proposed, 

1764. 

Franklin in 

Stedman and 

Hutchinson, 

111,46. 



I40 



Intercolonial Union 



[§I22 



Colonial 
protests. 



Analysis of 
the act. 



"No taxation 
without 
representa- 
tion." 



method of taxation by Parliament, or, perhaps, might vote 
the necessary funds. Grenville did not believe that the 
colonists would protest against being taxed by Parliament; 
but this was precisely what they did. Assembly after as- 
sembly petitioned in vigorous language against the pro- 
posed measure, but these petitions were not even received 
by the House of Commons. The act levying stamp duties 
was brought in and passed without serious opposition, and 
received the king's assent in March, 1765. 

121. The Stamp Act. —The act in itself was on the same 
line as a law in force in Britain at that time, and in prin- 
ciple was not unlike a stamp act passed by the Massachu- 
setts legislature in 1755: legal documents and official 
papers were to be written on stamped paper, and a stamp 
was to be placed on several articles, such as printed books, 
newspapers, and playing cards ; the ordinary business papers 
and receipts for money paid were not included, and the 
measure was less severe in its operation than the law at 
present in force in Great Britain. It was not intended to 
draw the money thus raised to England, but to expend it 
in America in the purchase of food and other supphes for 
the soldiers. The evil feature of the act as a law was that 
persons accused of offenses under it might not enjoy the 
benefits of trial by jury, at the discretion of the prosecuting 
officer. The Stamp Act was opposed in America, not on 
its merits as a piece of legislation, but on the ground that 
" no taxation without representation " was one of the lead- 
ing maxims of the Constitution of the British Empire and 
one of the most important rights of the American colonists 
as Englishmen. It will be well to consider this matter 
in detail, as the difference in constitutional ideas which 
appeared at this time was the fundamental cause of the 
splitting apart of the British nation and of the founding of 
the Republic of the United States. 

122. Representative Institutions. -^The phrase " no tax- 
ation without representation " was familiar to all sections of 
the British people, but it conveyed very different ideas to 



1765] Representative Institutions 14 1 

those living in Great Britain and to their kinsfolk in the 
colonies. The British Parliament was composed of two 
houses, — the Peers, comprising hereditary nobles and the 
bishops, and the House of Commons, which was held to 
represent the people. The members of the latter body 
were elected in accordance with a system which was 
the result of centuries of constitutional development : the 
apportionment of members was based on the counties and 
the boroughs; although they differed enormously in popu- 
lation and extent, each of these divisions sent two members 
to Parliament. No attempt had been made to redress the 
inequalities of this system except during the Puritan su- 
premacy, and the changes the Puritans had made had been 
discarded at the Restoration. Furthermore, only four new 
members had been added to the Commons since the acces- 
sion of James I. Some of the boroughs contained no in- 
habitants: in one of these, Old Sarum, it was possible in 
dry seasons to trace the foundations of old buildings by 
the color of the grass; in another, Midhurst, the sites of 
old allotments were marked by stone posts; while one 
borough "had sunk beneath the waters of the North Sea." 
These all returned members to the House of Commons; 
indeed, William Pitt entered political life as " Member 
for Old Sarum." On the other hand, great centers of 
trade and human activity returned no members at all. 

In the colonies, the case was radically different. Repre- Represent* 
sentation was everywhere apportioned on a territorial basis, 
which was being constantly changed to suit the altered con- 
ditions of the several parts of each colony. As new towns 
or counties were formed, either by the growth of settlements 
already made or by the colonization of new regions, the 
inhabitants of these new divisions sent representatives to 
the colonial legislatures. This right was regarded as a 
most valuable one in the colonies. When the English 
government directed the governor of Virginia to refuse his 
assent to bills erecting new counties unless the people of 
the new division would forego their right of representation. 



tion in the 
colonies. 



142 



Intercolonial Union 



{.i '27 



The 

franchise in 
England. 



In the 
colonies. 



Other 
ditierences. 



it was resented as an act of tyranny. It was universally felt 
that all sections of each colony and all bodies of colonists 
should be represented in the assembly. 

In the matter of the franchise there was an equally wide 
difference of opinion. In Great Britain the county franchise 
was confined to those who owned land, and in that country 
it must be remembered the land was owned by a compara- 
tively small number of persons. The borough franchise 
depended for the most part on the possession of some pe- 
culiar privilege. In Midhurst, for instance, the owner of the 
plots of ground marked by the stone posts, above mentioned, 
alone enjoyed the franchise ; in other places, those persons 
who had the right to cook their food at a common fire had 
the right to vote ; and a man ordinarily possessed as many 
votes as he owned rights. The result of this extraordinary 
condition of things was that a .comparatively small number 
of persons, mostly landowners and members of the House of 
Lords, returned a majority of the members of the House of 
Commons. 

In the colonies, on the other hand, the franchise was 
regulated by general rules and was usually given to all free 
adult white men who possessed a moderate amount of prop- 
erty. In the southern colonies, the suffrage was usually 
restricted to landowners ; but it was easy to acquire land in 
those colonies, and the quahfication, although it resembled 
the English county franchise in form, had no resemblance 
to it in fact. 

In Great Britain the counties and boroughs might send 
to Padiament any one whom the possessors of the franchise 
preferred, no matter where he lived, and a man possessing 
the necessary voting qualifications could vote in as many 
places as he possessed those rights. In the colonies, 
residence was ordinarily required for both the voter and 
the representative. It was felt that the latter really repre- 
sented the wishes and interests of those who had taken 
a part in his election. To the colonist, therefore, the 
phrase "no taxation without representation" meant that 



1765J English Theory of Representation 



143 



no tax could be levied except by vote of a legislative body 
in which a person known to the voter, and in whose elec- 
tion he had taken part, had a seat; but to an Englishman 
the phrase meant simply " no taxation except by vote of 
the House of Commons." 

123. English Theory of Representation. — The English 
idea of representative government signified representation 
of all classes of the community, and not at all repre- 
sentation by population. The great mass of Englishmen 
belonging to any particular class had no vote for a member 
of the House of Commons, but other Englishmen of the 
same class had a vote. It was held, therefore, that all the 
members of that class were virtually represented. It was 
easy to extend the theory and to argue that the colonists 
vvere also represented, inasmuch as merchants interested in 
colonial trade vvere represented in the House of Commons. 
The English idea of the matter was admirably summed up 
by Lord Mansfield, then Chief Justice of England, in the 
course of the debates in the House of Lords on the repeal 
of the Stamp Act. He said: "There can be no doubt but 
that the inhabitants of the colonies are as much represented 
in Parliament as the greatest part of the people of Eng- 
land are. ... A member of Parliament chosen for any 
borough represents not only the constituents and inhabit- 
ants of that particular place, but he represents the city of 
London, and all the commons of the land, and the inhabit- 
ants of all the colonies and dominions of Great Britain." 
Writers like Jefferson contended on the other hand, that 
however true this might be as to Englishmen, it had no 
application to the colonists, who, unlike the English people, 
could exert no pressure, either physical or moral, upon the 
actual electors and the chosen members. 

This wide departure between English and American 
theories of government can be traced back directly to the 
middle of the seventeenth century. The Puritans, in the 
time of their power, reformed the apportionment and 
the franchise on modern lines. At the time of the Restora- 



Virtual 
representa- 
tion. 



Mansfield's 
speech. 
Adams's 
British Ora- 
tions, I, 150. 



Cause of the 
difference in 
political 
ideas. 



144 



Intercolonial Union 



[§ 124 



The Stamp 

Act in 

America. 

•Fruthing- 

ham's 

Republic, 

177. 



Henry's 
speech, 1765. 
•Frothing- 
ham's 
Republic, 
178-181; 
Tyler's 
Henry, ch. v. 



tion these changes were distasteful to the majority of 
EngHshmen and they were accordingly discarded, and 
the old system brought back. The colonies developed 
on the lines laid down in the instructions to Yeardley 
(1619) and in the development of representative institu- 
tions in New England, modified by the democratic tend- 
encies of the Quakers and their associates. In the course 
of a century the institutions of the two portions of the British 
Empire had grown so far apart that further continuance 
of the two sections of Englishmen under one government, 
except under some form of federation, was no longer possi- 
ble. The colonists could not understand the theory which 
held them to be represented in the British Parliament, and 
they determined to resist the attempt to tax them to the 
utmost of their ability. 

124. Resistance in America. — At the outset, the opinion 
that there would be no resistance to the act seemed to be 
justified. The guns of a fort near Philadelphia were spiked ; 
but, except this, there was no demonstration of any impor- 
tance until the end of May (1765). This quiet was not 
due to any willingness of the colonists to obey the Stamp 
Act ; it was owing to the fact that there was nothing to 
oppose. The names of the stamp distributors were not yet 
known, there were no stamps to destroy, and the enforce- 
ment of the act could not be resisted, as it did not go into 
effect until nearly six months later (in November). It 
needed only the urging of a bold spirit to bring out the 
feeling of opposition, which was not dead, but waiting a 
favorable opportunity to manifest itself. 

Patrick Henry's speech on the Parson's Cause had given 
him great popularity. He was soon elected to fill a vacancy 
which had occurred in the House of Burgesses, as the repre- 
sentative branch o\ the Virginia Assembly was termed. He 
had never before sat in a legislative body, and waited impa- 
tiently for one of the more experienced men to propose a 
formal protest against the Stamp Act, but the leading men 
were fully employed in dealing with a matter of financial 



1765] Resistance in America 145 

irregularity on the part of the Speaker, who was also the 
Treasurer of the Province. As the session neared its close 
and none of the leaders proposed to take any action in 
regard to the Stamp Act, Henry arose and moved a set of 
resolutions, which he forced on the attention of the reluc- 




tant burgesses by a most fiery speech. They were all 
adopted, but the next day, after Henry's departure, the 
boldest of them was rescinded. The two most important 
are here given in full : 

''''Resolved, That his Majesty's liege people of this his Henry's 
ancient colony have enjoyed the right of being thus gov- ""esolutions, 
erned by their own Assembly in the article of taxes and 
internal police, and that the same has never been forfeited, 
or any other way yielded up, but have been constantly 
recognized by the King and people of Great Britain. 

^^ Resolved, Therefore, that the General Assembly of this 
colony, together with his Majesty or his substitutes, have, 
in their representative capacity, the only exclusive right 
and power to lay taxes and imposts upon the inhabitants 
of this colony; and that every attempt to vest such power 
in any other person or persons whatever than the General 
Assembly aforesaid, is illegal, unconstitutional, and unjust, 
and has a manifest tendency to destroy British as well as 
American liberty." In other words, the Virginia Assembly 
denied the power of Parliament to legislate in any way on 
the internal concerns of the Old Dominion. 

In August, the names of the stamp distributors were pub- The act 
lished. At once riots occurred in New Hampshire, Massa- "u'"°*0' 
chusetts, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, and Rhode 



146 



Intercolonial Union 



[§125 



Stamp Act 
Congress, 

1765- 

*Froth- 

ingham's 

Republic, 

184-189. 



Declaration 
of Rights, 
1765. 



Island. Before long, every stamp distributor was forced 
to resign. The rioters at Boston were especially violent, 
for there the resentment of the people was directed against 
the customs officials as well as against the stamp officers. 
Hutchinson, the lieutenant governor and chief justice who 
had given the decision in favor of writs of assistance, was 
marked out for the vengeance of the excited people. His 
house was broken open and his valuable books and papers 
destroyed. As the stamps and the stamped paper arrived 
from England, they were stored in the forts or on vessels in 
the harbor. The ist of November arrived, and not a stamp 
could be bought. There was not a man in America who 
had authority to open the packages and sell the stamps, and 
in the condition of the public mind then prevailing, no 
one was willing to take the responsibility of forcing them 
upon the people. On the contrary, the royal officials were 
obliged to disregard the act; even the courts were com- 
pelled to proceed regardless of the law. 

125. The Stamp Act Congress, 1765. — Meantime, in 
June, on the motion of James Otis, the Massachusetts 
House of Representatives had invited the assemblies of the 
other colonies to send delegates to a general meeting or 
congress to be held in October. On the appointed day, 
October 7, delegates from all the colonies whose assemblies 
were in session, except that of New Hampshire, met at 
New York. The majority of the members were moderate 
men, and the congress did nothing except to formulate a 
Declaration of Rights and petitions to the king and to the 
Houses of Parliament. The Declaration of Rights is im- 
portant, because it is the first utterance of any consider- 
able number of the colonies on the questions which were 
soon to be of supreme importance. After acknowledging 
allegiance to the "crown of Great Britain," and declaring 
themselves to be entitled to the same liberties as "his 
natural born subjects ... in Great Britain," they assert 
that the " people of the colonies are not, and, from their 
local circumstances, cannot be represented in the House 



1766] Repeal of the Stamp Act 147 

of Commons," and that no taxes " can be constitutionally 
imposed on them but by their respective legislatures"; they 
also called attention to the clauses of the Stamp Act above 
noted, as to the trial of cases arising under it in the 
admiralty courts, and asserted " that trial by jury is the 
inherent and invaluable right of every British subject in 
these colonies." 

Although the Stamp Act Congress produced slight direct 
results, its meeting was of the utmost importance. For 
three quarters of a century the British government had 
endeavored to unite the colonies in opposition to the 
French, and had been unsuccessful. Now the colonies 
came together of their own accord to defend their rights 
against the encroachments of king and Parliament. 

126. Repeal of the Stamp Act, 1766. — The Grenville First 
ministry was now no longer in office. Its leading members Rockingham 
had deeply offended the king by their want of tact. He 1766. 
seized the first opportunity to dismiss them, but found it 
impossible to fill their places with men who would do his 
bidding. In the end, he was obliged to confide the gov- 
ernment to the Marquis of Rockingham, a descendant of 
the Lord Strafford of the seventeenth century. Rocking- 
ham was a slow, dull man, but he was honest and possessed 
a great fortune. The king disliked him as one of the 
leaders of the Whig aristocracy from whose yoke he was 
striving to free the monarchy. Rockingham could hope 
for no help from his royal master, and he had few follow- 
ers, of whom none were men of mark except Edmund 
Burke, who was not a member of the government. Never- 
theless, Rockingham and his faction represented what 
would be termed in American political language the "reg- 
ular" section of the Whig party, and might hope to attract 
the other sections of that once powerful organization. 

This weak ministry came into office at the moment when Policy of 
a most serious crisis was impending. There was in addi- *^® "^* 

1 1 1 • A • 1 ministry. 

tion to the trouble in America a controversy over general 
warrants in England, which involved issues similar to those 



148 



Intercolonial Union 



[§I26 



Benjamin 

Franklin, 
portions of 
autobiog- 
raphy in 
Stedman and 
Hutchinson, 
ill. 3-16. 



His 

examination. 
Stedman and 
Hutchinson, 

111,21. 



Pitt's speech. 
Adams's 
British Ora- 
tions, 98 ; 
Hart's Con- 
temporaries, 
\\, No. 142. 



that underlay the question of writs of assistance in Massa- 
chusetts. As to the Stamp Act, it was difificult to know 
what to do: that precise form of taxation had been 
selected because, in ordinary circumstances, the law would 
have enforced itself, as it was for the interest of every per- 
son receiving a legal document to see that it was in all 
respects according to law. In the temper then prevailing 
in America, it was absolutely impossible to enforce it with- 
out an armed conflict, and there could be no question of 
modifying the act, as it was well drawn. The colonists 
objected to being taxed at all by any legislative body in 
which they held themselves to be unrepresented. In this 
state of doubt the Rockingham ministry determined to 
repeal the act, mainly on account of the shrewd observa- 
tions of Dr. Franklin, then in London as agent for several 
colonies, and in the hope of winning the support of Will- 
iam Pitt, whose hearty co-operation might have given the 
ministry sufficient strength to maintain itself in power. 
America has probably never produced a man of greater 
mental grasp than Benjamin Franklin, and in him the 
greatest ability was combined with common sense and 
worldly wisdom, as they have never been combined in any 
other man. He and some of his English friends brought it 
about that he should be summoned to the bar of the House 
of Commons, and there interrogated as to the American 
crisis. Some of the questions were arranged beforehand, 
but many were prompted by the course of the examination. 
In the House of Commons, Pitt made two speeches denying 
the right of Parliament to lay internal taxes on the colonies 
and "rejoicing that America had resisted." He sought to 
draw a line between external and internal taxation, and 
argued that, although Parliament could regulate trade and 
raise a revenue, while so doing it could not lay direct in- 
ternal taxes on the colonists. The same view was enforced 
in the House of Peers by Lord Camden, who urged that 
taxation without representation was against the constitu 
tion. Their arguments were ably met in the Commons b> 



1767] The Toivns/iend Acts 149 

George Grenville, and in the Peers by Lord Mansfield, who 
had the law clearly on their side, although expediency was 
as plainly with Pitt and Camden. The English merchants 
petitioned for the repeal of the act, on the ground that the 
disturbances which it had caused in America were disas- 
trous to colonial trade. Thus urged, and with the means Repeal of 
of retreat pointed out by Pitt, the ministers brought in two ^^^' ^J^^ 
bills, — one to repeal the Stamp Act, the other declaring 
that Parliament had power to " legislate for the colonies 
in all cases whatsoever." Both bills passed and became 
law. Thus Parliament upheld the theory of its legislative 
supremacy, but gave way on a particular point. The colo- 
nists, considering that they had won, rejoiced greatly, and 
no name was more popular with them than that of William 
Pitt. In reality, however, by the Declaratory Act, Parlia- The 
ment had retained full right to tax the colonists whenever ^^^ 1766 
it might seem best. There can be no question that Pitt Winsor's 
was wrong in his attempt to separate the taxing power ^'«^^"^«' 
from the general legislative power, and that Mansfield and 
Grenville were right in asserting that one could not exist 
without the other. 

127. The Townshend Acts, 1767. — The yielding to Pitt Chatham- 
did not bring to the Rockingham ministry the support of 
that statesman. On the contrary, he soon became the head 
of a government which is known as the Chatham-Grafton 
ministry. William Pitt, now a peer, with the title of Earl 
of Chatham, was the real leader, although the Duke of 
Grafton was the nominal head. The other members of the 
government were drawn from all parties,— followers of 
Rockingham and Pitt, and even Tories, like Lord North; 
indeed, so many elements were represented, that Burke 
laughingly described it as a bit of " tesselated pavement " 
and christened it " The Mosaic Ministry. " Chatham almost 
immediately retired to his country house, the victim of 
some peculiar malady, which seems to have resembled the 
"nervous prostration" of our day. Under these circum- 
stances, the most energetic man took the lead, and he was 



Grafton 
ministry. 



I50 



Intercolonial Union 



[§128 



The 

Townshend 
Acts, 1767. 
Winsor's 
America, 

VI, 35; 

Fiske's 

Revolution, 

I, 28-32; 

*Frothing- 

ham's 

Republic, 

203-206. 



Letters of a 

Pennsylvania 

Farmer, 

1767-68. 

Fiske's 

Revolution, 

1.47. 



Charles Townshend, Chancellor of the Exchequer or min- 
ister of finance. Relying on the Declaratory Act, he pro- 
ceeded to carry out the policy of George Grenville, except 
as to internal taxes. This led to the passing of several 
bills (1767), which are usually known from their promoter 
as the Townshend Acts, (i) One act provided for a colo- 
nial revenue, to be raised from a tax on wine, oil, glass, 
paper, lead, painters' colors, and tea imported into the 
colonies, the duties to be paid at importation, and the 
proceeds used (2) to pay the salaries of the governors 
and judges of the royal provinces, in this way rendering 
them independent of the votes of the colonial assemblies. 
(3) Another enactment provided for the appointment of a 
Board of Customs Commissioners, resident in the colonies, 
who would be able to exercise effective control of the cus- 
toms service. (4) Writs of assistance were also declared to 
be legal, and (5) provision was made for the trial of reve- 
nue cases by admiralty courts without juries. (6) At nearly 
the same time, Parliament suspended the functions of the 
legislative assembly of New York because it had not made 
provision "for the support of the British regiments stationed 
in the city of New York, as was required by an earlier act 
passed during the Grenville regime. These various enact- 
ments raised most serious issues: (i) the constitutional 
relations of Parliament and the several colonial legisla- 
tures, (2) the right of trial by jury, (3) the control of the 
judiciary and executive by the people, (4) the legality ol 
writs of assistance, and (5) the right of Parliament to tax 
goods imported into the colonies. The answer of the 
colonists was not long delayed, nor was it easily misunder- 
stood. 

128. Resistance to the Townshend Acts, 1768, 1769. — 
Non-importation agreements were again proposed, espe- 
cially by Virginia, but without much effect, and in the 
Letters of a Pennsylvania Farmer, John Dickinson, one of 
the truest-hearted and best men of the revolutionary epoch, 
pointed out " that any law, in so far as it creates expense, 



1768] 



Resistance in America 



151 



is in reality a tax." It was on New England, however, 
that the new legislation would bear most severely, and it 
was New England, especially Massachusetts, that took the 
lead in opposition. In the winter of 1767-68 the repre- 
sentatives voted several petitions and letters, which were 
the work mainly of Samuel Adams. Among them was a 
Circular Letter to be signed by the Speaker of the House 
and transmitted to the other assemblies, notifying them of 
the votes of Massachusetts and suggesting concerted action, 
while disavowing any desire for independence. Precisely 
what it was in this 
document that 
aroused the fears of 
the British govern- 
ment cannot be defi- 
nitely started ; but 
the fact that the 
Massachusetts lead- 
ers felt it necessary 
to assure the other 
colonies that they 
were not aiming at 
independence might 
well have alarmed 
the colonial secre- 
tary. At all events, 
he wrote to Governor 
Bernard of Massachusetts directing him to order the legis- 
lature of that province to rescind the letter ; and in a 
Circular Letter to the governors of the other provinces he 
commanded them to dissolve the assemblies of their 
respective colonies in case they should act in conformity 
with the invitation from Massachusetts. The House of 
Representatives of the latter province, by an overwhelming " 
majority, refused to rescind its letter, and the other assem- 
blies grasped the first opportunity to make the cause of 
Massachusetts their own. 




Samuel Adams 



Massa- 
chusetts 
Circular 
Letter, 
1767-68. 
Winsor's 
America, 
VI, 41; 
Fiske's 
Revolution, 

1.47-50; 
*Froth- 
ingham's 
Republic, 



Seizure of 
the Liberty, 
1768. 
Winsor's 
America, 

VI, 43; 

Fiske's 

Revolution, 

1,51-53- 



152 



Intercolonial Union 



[§129 



129 Seizure of the Liberty, 1768.— The new Board 
of Commissioners of Customs (p. 150) established their 
headquarters at Boston, where there was the greatest need 
of supervision, but where they were certain to be opposed 
in the exercise of their duty. Presently arrived the sloop 
Liberty, owned by John Hancock, a rich Boston merchant 
and a^ery popular man. Attempting to evade this pay- 
ment in the usual manner, by bribing the customs officials, 




The Hancock House 



the vessel was seized and towed under the guns of the 
British frigate Romney, which was lying at anchor in the 
harbor. A riot occurred which frightened the commis- 
sioners; they fled to the fort in the harbor and wrote to 
England demanding soldiers and a larger naval force. 
Before this supplemental force could arrive, however, the 
Boston people, in town meeting, requested the governor 
to summon the assembly; on his refusal, they summoned 
a convention of delegates from the several towns. It met, 



1769] 



The Virginia Resolves 



153 



but accomplished nothing except to provide a precedent 
for the Provincial Congress of a later day. 

130. The Virginia Resolves of 1769. — To the ever- 
growing list of colonial grievances, there was now added 
a threat which, had it been carried out, would have worked 
great injury to the colonists. In the days of Henry VIII, 
long before England had a colony or a colonist, Parliament 
had passed an act authorizing the trial, conviction, and 
punishment in England of an English subject accused of 
crimes committed outside the realm. The two houses 
of Parliament now prayed the king to cause colonists 
charged with treason to be brought to England for trial, in 
accordance with the provisions of this ancient statute. 
The Virginia leaders, ever alive to constitutional matters, 
were thoroughly converted to the opposition. Washington, 
one of the most influential and prosperous of their num- 
ber, as well as one of the wisest, wrote: "... No man 
should hesitate a moment to use arms in defence of so 
valuable a blessing [freedom]." The Virginia Assembly 
met on May 11, 1769. Five days later, the burgesses 
unanimously adopted four resolves, asserting (i) that they, 
with the council and the king, or his representative, have 
" the sole right of imposing taxes on the inhabitants " of Vir- 
ginia, (2) that the inhabitants of the several colonies have 
the right to petition for redress of grievances, and (3) that 
it is lawful for them to petition jointly with the people of 
other colonies. Coming now to the precise matter which 
had been the occasion of these resolves, the burgesses de- 
clared (4) that all trials for any crime whatsoever should 
be within the colony by known course of law, and asserted 
that the sending any suspected person beyond the seas for 
trial is "highly derogatory of the right of British sub- 
jects." The Speaker was directed to send copies of these 
resolves to the other assemblies, and to request their con- 
currence therein. The governor at once dissolved the 
Virginia Assembly, but the popular branches of the other 
colonial assemblies generally adopted similar resolutions 



Virginia 

Resolves, 

1769. 

*Froth- 

ingham's 

Republic, 

232-237. 



Analysis of 
resolves. 



154 



Intercolonial Union 



[§131 



Virginia 
proposes 
non-impor- 
tation, 1769. 
•Froth- 
ingliam's 
Republic, 
238. 



Partial 
repeal of the 
Townshend 
duties. 
Fiske's » 
Revolution, 
I, 60-63. 



— some of them even used the words of the Virginia 

Resolves. 

131. Non-importation Agreements, 1769. — The dissolu- 
tion of the Virginia Assembly only hastened the crisis. 
The burgesses met in a neighboring house and signed an 
agreement binding themselves neither to use nor to import 
any goods on which a tax was levied by act of Parliament. 
This document had been drawn up by George Mason; it was 
presented to the burgesses by George Washington, and among 
the signatures to it was that of Thomas Jefferson. The other 
colonies soon adopted similar agreements, and by the end 
of the year (1769) the non-importation policy was in full 
operation. The object of the colonists in "boycotting" 
certain goods, which were either the products of England 
or were imported through English mercantile houses, was 
to exert a pressure on English merchants engaged in colo- 
nial trade, and through them to influence the government. 
This policy proved to be effectual ; the merchants petitioned 
for the repeal of the act, and the government acceded to 
their wishes. In point of fact, the Townshend duties, in- 
stead of producing a revenue, had proved to be a source of 
expense. It was estimated that they had brought into the 
exchequer only two hundred and ninety-five pounds above 
the cost of collection; and the opposition to them had 
necessitated increased expenditures to the amount of one 
hundred and seventy-five thousand pounds. 

Instead, however, of repealing them all, the government, 
at the express command of the king, retained the duty on 
tea to serve as a precedent for future parliamentary taxation 
of the colonists. The tea tax had yielded a total gross 
revenue of some three hundred pounds, and was retained 
probably on account of its insignificance, for being un- 
noticed, it might not be resisted. The Navigation Acts 
and the trade laws still remained; conflicts with the 
revenue ofificers became more frequent, and the colonists 
regarded with increasing dislike the British soldiers sta- 
tioned at New York and Boston. 



I770] 



The Boston Massacre 



155 



132. The Boston Massacre, 1770. — While the govern- 
ment and Parliament had been considering the question of 
repeal, a serious affray, known as the "Boston Massacre," 
had greatly complicated the situation (March, 1770), 
although tidings of the disturbance had not reached Eng- 
land until after the partial repeal of the Townshend duties 
(April, 1770). A few soldiers had been stationed at Boston 
as early as 1766; but it was not until after the rioting con- 
sequent on the seizure of the Liberty that any considerable 
body of troops was sent to that town. It is difificult to con- 
ceive why they were sent, as two regiments could have 
offered slight resistance to the soldiery of Massachusetts, 
and their presence was certain to embitter the already 
strained relations between the colonists and the British 
authorities. Early in 1769, blood was shed in an attempt 
by a party from the Rose frigate to press men into the 
naval service ; and a short time after, a boy had been 
accidentally shot in the streets of Boston. On Saturday 
night, March 3, a party of soldiers, while off duty, engaged 
in a conflict with some workingmen returning from their 
labor. The next Monday, March 5, 1770, renewed conflict 
began with the soldiers, this time with those on duty on 
King, now State, Street. Before the matter ended, the main 
guard was turned out and the mob fired upon by the angry 
and frightened soldiers; four citizens were killed and sev- 
eral wounded. It was evident to the leaders on both sides 
that a most serious crisis had arisen; in the temper then 
prevailing, the soldiers must be removed or they would be 
slaughtered and a conflict with Great Britain precipitated, 
which was desired at that time by few colonists. 

At the head of a committee appointed in town meeting, 
Samuel Adams waited upon Hutchinson, then acting as 
governor in the absence of Bernard, and demanded the 
removal of the troops. Hutchinson offered to remove the 
regiment which had fired on the people. Adams reported 
this answer to the town meeting. He soon reappeared and 
said to Hutchinson: "If you can remove one, you can 



British 

soldiers in 

Boston, 

1766-70. 

Winsor's 

America, 

VI. 49. 



Impress- 
ment, 1769 
Chandler's 
Criminal 
Trials, 
I, 297. 



The 

Massacre. 
Chandler's 
Criminal 
Trials, I, 
303-418 ; 
Fislce's 
Revohition, 
I, 66-72. 



Adams and 
Hutchinsoa 
Hart's Con- 
temporaries, 
II, No. 151. 



156 



Intercolonial Union 



[§132 



remove both ; there are three thousand people in yonder 
town meeting; the country is rising; the night is falling, 
and we must have our answer." Hutchinson promised to 
send them all out of the town, but it took another town 
meeting to secure their departure. The officers and men 
present at the time of the firing were arrested and tried on 




Faneuil Hall 

the charge of murder. They were defended by John Adams 
and Josiah Quincy, Jr., two patriots, who risked their popu- 
larity and influence that the soldiers might have the fullest 
justice done to them. All were acquitted on the charge of 
murder by a jury drawn from Boston and the neighborhood; 
two of them, however, were found guilty of manslaughter 
and branded in the hand. Probably the issues underlying 
no other event in American history have been so misrepre- 
sented by friends and foes as those relating to this so-called 



i77i] Local Committees of Correspondence 157 



"massacre." The colonists regarded the British army as 
existing under British law and, therefore, they maintained 
that not a soldier could be constitutionally stationed in any 
colony without the consent of the colonial legislature. This 
theory was similar to that upon which the opposition to the 
Stamp Act and the Townshend Acts was based. From 
another point of view the "massacre " was important, as it 
showed the danger to the liberty of the subject incurred by 
the substitution of military for civil power. The event was 
therefore commemorated in Boston as a victory for free- 
dom, until the adoption 
of the Declaration of 
Independence, on July 
4, 1776, gave the people 
of the whole country a 
day of general rejoicing. 
133. Local Commit- 
tees of Correspondence. 
— After the removal of 
the soldiers, affairs in 
Massachusetts assumed 
a quieter aspect than 
they had borne for years. 
Hutchinson chose this 
time of quiet to open 
a discussion with the 
House of Representa- 
tives as to the rights and duties of the colonists. He 
argued that the position assumed by the colonial leaders 
was unsound and asserted that they must either submit or 
become independent. Undoubtedly Hutchinson was right; 
there was no constitutional mode of redress; the colonists 
were face to face with the alternative of submission or 
rebellion and the latter might lead to revolution and inde- 
pendence. Samuel Adams saw at once the opportunity 
such a debate gave him to call attention to the real issues 
in controversy. He spread the discussion abroad through- 




Thomas Hutchinson 



Local 

Committees 
of Corre- 
spondence. 
Fiske's 
Revolution, 
1,77-80; 
*Froth- 
ingham's 
Republic, 
259-271. 



Hutchinson 
and Adams. 
Stedman and 
Hutciiinson, 
111,61; 
Hosmer's 
Samuel 
Adams. 



158 



Intercolonial Union 



[§134 



Burning of 
the Gaspee, 
1772. 
Lossing's 
Revolution, 
1, 628. 



Ihe 

Commission 
of Inquiry. 



out the whole province by means of town committees of 
correspondence. At the moment, however, Massachusetts 
seemed to stand alone. An over-zealous naval officer, by 
the rigorous way in which he sought to enforce the naviga- 
tion laws, brought on a crisis that ended in the formation 
of colonial committees of correspondence,— the second 
step in the formation of a complete revolutionary organiza- 
tion. 

134. Colonial Committees of Correspondence. — Among the 
many acts of violence committed by the colonists before 
the destruction of the tea by the Boston men, none led to 
more important consequences than the burning of the 
Gaspee by the people of Providence. There were not 
wanting deeds of daring in other colonies, as the destruc- 
tion of the Peggy Steivart by the Mary landers; but the 
Gaspee affair assumed a national importance from the 
action of the British authorities. The Gaspee was an 
armed government vessel commanded by Lieutenant Dud- 
ington of the royal navy. His duty was to patrol Narra- 
gansett Bay and connecting waters with a view to the 
enforcement of the Navigation Acts. One day, while 
chasing a colonial vessel, the Gaspee ran aground and 
remained immovable on a narrow spit, which has since 
been called Gaspee Point. Led by the most prominent 
and respected merchant in the town, men from Providence 
boarded her in the night, seized the crew, and set the ves- 
sel on fire (1772). Instead of passing over the matter as 
a personal quarrel between Dudington and the Providence 
men, the British government determined to avenge it as 
an insult to the British flag. A Commission of Inquiry 
was sent to Rhode Island to sift the matter, to seize the 
perpetrators, and to convey them out of the colony for 
trial. The names of those who had taken part in the affair 
were known to a thousand persons at least, but no one 
could be found to inform the commissioners against them. 
Moreover, Stephen Hopkins, the courageous chief justice 
of Rhode Island, declared that not a person should be 



177-1 



Colonial Union 



159 



removed for trial without the colony's limits. The com- 
missioners abandoned the inquiry and reported their failure 
to the government. The Virginia Assembly was in session 
when the news of the appointment of this commission 
reached the Old Dominion. Now, as in 1769 (p. 153), 
the burgesses showed themselves peculiarly alive to any 
action which looked toward the breaking down of the 
constitutional safeguards of the liberty of the colonists. 
Under the leadership of Patrick Henry and Thomas Jeffer- 
son, a permanent Committee of Correspondence was ap- 
pointed to inform themselves particularly of the facts as to 
the Gaspee Commission, and " to maintain a correspondence 
with our sister colonies." Massachusetts, Rhode Island, 
Connecticut, New Hampshire, and South Carolina ap- 
pointed similar committees. For the moment the other 
colonies took no action. The machinery for revolutionary 
organization had been discovered, however, and before long 
the action of the British government as to the tea duty 
forced all the colonies into line. 

135. Colonial Union. — The English East India Company 
was now in severe financial straits, owing to the wars it was 
compelled to wage in India, to the extravagance with which 
the government of that country was administered, to the 
heavy payments it was obliged to make to its shareholders 
and to the English government, and to the heavy duties 
levied in England on goods produced in India. The Dutch 
East India Company was able to undersell its rival, and 
most of the tea consumed in the colonies was smuggled in 
frum the Netherlands. The English duties on tea amounted 
to about seventy-five per cent. To help the East India Com- 
pany, these duties were remitted on all tea exported to Ire- 
land and America. This was done by one of the Townshend 
Acts, which also levied a new duty of three pence per pound 
on all tea landed in the colonies (1767). But this policy 
was not successful, as the East India Company was obliged 
to make good any deficiency in the revenue that might re- 
sult. It was now proposed to allow the Company to export 



Colonial 
Commiltees 
of Corre- 
spondence, 

1773- 

*Froth- 

ingham's 

Republic, 

279-283. 



Attempt to 
bribe the 
colonists to 
pay tea duty 
*Froth- 
ingham's 
Republic, 
295-310. 



i6o 



Intercolonial Union [§ i35 



tea to the colonies without any conditions except the duty of 
three pence, which would still be collected in the colonies. 
Some one suggested that the easiest way to avoid any con- 
flict with the colonists would be for the company to pay 
the latter tax in England and add the amount to the price 
of the tea; but the government was immovable on that 
point. They desired to establish a precedent for the par- 






CARD. 



; rr-^HE PUBLIC prefent their Compliments to Meflicurs 

J J^ JAMES AND DRINKER. --We are informed that you 

{ hstve this Day received your Commiffion to cnflave your native 

I Country, and, as your frivolous Plea of having received no 

; Advice, relative io the fcandalous Part you v/ere to aA, in the 

i Tea-Scheme, can no longer ferve your Purpofe, nor divert our 

> Attention, we ©xpeft and defire you •will immediately inform 

I the Public, by a Line or two to be left at theCoi rtx House, 

\ Whether •you will, or will not, renounce all Pretenfions to 

I execute that CommifDonf that "WE may govern ouk- 

f SELVES ACCOR01HG1.Y. 



. J PHlaidfbidy DccemUr a, 1 773. j ■, 

Bs?-- » — • . — -- — r.<^^ — .^►.-., — RQ 

J^CiKl' M i ■ . j-cssaas 1 55S>^ % 



A Tea Handbill 



liamentary taxation of the colonies, and the present op- 
portunity seemed most favorable. The colonists would 
obtain their tea at a cheaper rate than the people of 
England could buy it. Under these circumstances, it was 
supposed that they would not object to paying the duty; 
but the very cheapness of the tea at once convinced the 
colonists that all was not right. They regarded it as an 
attempt to bribe them into a surrender of the constitutional 
principle for which they had been contending and refused 
to have anything to do with it at any price. The vessels 



1773] Resistance to the Tea Tax i6l 

bearing tea to Philadelphia and New York were allowed 
by the authorities to leave port without landing their car- 
goes. At Charleston the tea was stored until 1776, when 
it was sold by the Carolinians. At Boston the customs The Boston 
authorities, with the support of Governor Hutchinson, re- '^*^^ Party. 

Fiske's 

fused to permit the tea vessels to clear outwards unless Revolution 
the tea were first landed. The rules of the customs service 1,82-93; 
prescribed that goods which were not landed, and on which ^^^ ^°'*^^ 
duties were not paid within a certain time, should be seized isio 68 ' 
by the collector and sold to the highest bidder. The Mas- Gen. Ser. 
sachusetts men were determined that the tea should not be 
placed on the market, and it was thrown into Boston harbor 
by a mob. 

Not only did this attempt to bribe the colonists into a sur- 
render of their rights fail, but six more colonies appointed 
Committees of Correspondence. Pennsylvania alone held 
back; with that exception the colonial union was complete. 1 

136. Repressive Acts, 1774. — The determined attitude Massa- 
of the colonists greatly incensed the governing classes in chusetts 
Great Britain, and they decided to punish the turbulent j" ' ^ ' 
people of Boston and Massachusetts. With this end in Fiske's 
view. Parliament passed four acts: (i) closing the port of ^^'^oiution, 

I. 93~97 i 

Boston to commerce; (2) suspending the operation of the *Froth- 
charter of Massachusetts; (3) providing for the trial outside ingham's 
of the colony of persons (soldiers and others) who might be ^^^^^ "^' 
charged with crime committed while quelling riots within 345-358! 
the colony; and (4) providing for the quartering of British 
troops within the province. At about the same time Parlia- 
ment also passed an act, known as the Quebec Act, which 
extended the boundaries of that province to the Ohio River 
and established an arbitrary form of government within it. 
The rights of holders of grants from the crown were ex- The Quebec 
pressly reserved to them in the act, and it is probable that Act, 1774. 
the claims of Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania oid North- 
to lands within the new province would have been recog- west, 141. 
nized. The measure had been long in preparation, and its 
passage at the present crisis had no relation to the dispute 



1 62 



Intercolonial Union 



[§ m 



Demand 
for a 

Continental 
Congress. 
Piske's 
Revolution, 

I, ICXJ-IIO. 



Elections 
to the 
Congress. 



Jefferson's 

Summary 

View. 



with the colonies south of the St. Lawrence. It was inevi- 
table, however, in the excited condition of the colonists' 
minds, that they should regard the Quebec Act as aimed 
against themselves; they saw in it a disposition on the part 
of the British government to limit the further extension 
westward of the self-governing colonies. This was a matter 
which appealed to them all, and was the one thing required, 
if anything were needed, to unite them against the encroach- 
ments of the British government. The repressive acts dealt 
for the moment with Massachusetts alone; but it was clear 
that if Parliament could overthrow the constitution of one 
colony, it could of all, and the interests of all the colonists 
were really involved. Soon their sympathy was aroused by 
the sufferings of the people of Boston. New York and 
Rhode Island proposed that a general congress should be 
held; the Virginia burgesses appointed a day of fasting, 
and upon being dissolved for this action, they formed 
themselves into a convention, appointed a revolutionary 
Committee of Correspondence, advocated the holding of 
annual intercolonial congresses, and voted that " an attack 
upon one colony was an attack upon all British America." 
The actual call for the congress, however, came from Massa- 
chusetts (June 17, 1774). 

137. The First Continental Congress, 1774. — Delegates 
to this meeting were chosen by all the colonies save Geor- 
gia, — in some cases by the colonial assembly, as in Massa- 
chusetts, in others by conventions, as in Virginia; in a few 
colonies, where no such bodies were in session or could be 
summoned, the delegates were chosen by the Committees 
of Correspondence or by the people of the several towns 
and counties. In New York and Pennsylvania, the moder- 
ates and conservatives, or Tories, as they were called, 
obtained control; in the other colonies, the radicals usually 
carried the day. 

The most important document called forth by the contest 
over these elections was Thomas Jefferson's Summary View 
of the Rights of British America, which was first drawn up 



1774] 



The First Continental Congress 



163 



in the form of Instructions to the Virginia Delegates ; but it 
was too outspoken for the members of the Virginia conven- 
tion, and was not adopted. In this essay, Jefferson boldly 
denied the existence of a legislative union between the 
colonies and Great Britain, and utterly refused to admit 
the legislative supremacy of the British Parliament, even 
as to external trade. On the other hand, he declared that 
the union was simply through the crown, as the union be- 
tween England and Scotland of the seventeenth century. 
He enumerated many acts of injustice on the part of the 
British king and urged the appointment of an American 
secretary for the colonies. 

The congress met at Philadelphia on September 5, 1774. 
Franklin was still in England, and Jefferson was not selected 
as a delegate by the Virginia convention. With those 
exceptions, all the ablest men then in political life were 
present. From Massachusetts came the two Adamses, 
Samuel, the first American politician, and John, the keen 
constitutional lawyer; mental disease, greatly intensified 
by blows which he had received from a British official, 
incapacitated Otis from further service. Rhode Island 
sent her venerable judge, Stephen Hopkins, and Connecti- 
cut was represented by Roger Sherman, whose long services 
in Congress have given him an honored place in American 
history. John Jay, the first Chief Justice of the United 
States, came from New York, John Dickinson from Penn- 
sylvania, and John Rutledge from South Carolina. Virginia 
was represented by a remarkable group of men : George 
Washington, whose sound judgment and solid information 
made him the foremost member of the congress, Patrick 
Henry, Richard Henry Lee, and Peyton Randolph. 

The congress adopted a Declaration of Rights which 
was not much more radical in tone than that of the Stamp 
Act Congress, and was much milder than the one ad- 
vocated by Jefferson in the Summary Vieiv. The more 
important work of this congress was the establishment of 
the American Association, designed to secure the enforce- 



American 
History 
Leaflets, 
No. II. 



Meeting of 

Congress, 

1774, the 

delegates. 

*Frofh- 

ingham's 

Republic, 

359-380. 



Declaration 
of Rights, 

1774- 

*Froth- 

ingham's 

Republic, 

371- 



1 64 



Fntercolonial Union 



[§138 



English 
government 
declares 
Massachu- 
setts in 
rebellion. 



merit of a general non-importation and non-consumption 
agreement. The execution of tiiis policy was no longer to 
be left to chance : the congress recommended the election 
of a committee by the county, town, or other local adminis- 
trative unit in each colony, which should oversee the carry- 
ing out of non-intercourse with Great Britain. These local 
committees were to be supervised by the colonial Com- 
mittees of Correspondence; the names of all offenders 
against the agreement should be published; and any colony 
which declined to enter the association should be regarded 
as hostile to "the liberties of this country," and denied all 
intercourse with the members of the association. In this 
manner, by the union of local and colonial committees 
under the leadership of continental congresses, a political 
organization was formed so perfect that it controlled the 
actions of individuals in all walks of life. Congress ad- 
journed in October, after providing for the assembling of 
a new congress in May, 1775, unless the grievances of the 
colonists were redressed before that time. 

138. More Repressive Measures, 1774, 1775. — A general 
election for members of a new Parliament was held towards 
the end of 1774, and the electors, by returning an over- 
whelming majority for the government, showed that they 
agreed fully with the king and his ministers in their 
desire to compel the colonists to obey acts of Parliament. 
The government at once introduced several bills to carry 
out their policy of repression. These were rapidly passed 
by both houses and became law. By them the New Eng- 
land colonists were cut off from all trade except with Great 
Britain, Ireland, the West Indies, and the continental colo- 
nies of New York, North Carolina, and Georgia; for these 
last seemed to be more submissive than the others. Massa- 
chusetts was declared to be in a state of rebellion, and 
measures were at once taken to put the insurrection down 
by force. To this policy, the opposition in the House of 
Commons, led by Burke and Charles James Fox, offered 
stout resistance, but their espousal of the colonial cause 



1 775 J 



Lexington and Concord 



165 



only deepened the hostility of the king. Chatham's pro- 
posals for a more conciliatory policy were set aside with 
contempt. Instead, Lord North, who was now at the head 
of the government, suggested that Parliament would not 
tax the colonists provided they would tax themselves to the 
satisfaction of Parliament, — a proposition which Burke 
rightly characterized as offering them " the very grievance 
for the remedy." 

139. Lexington and Concord, April 19, 1775. — Mean- 
time, in Massachusetts, affairs had come to a crisis. The 
government of that province, under the new order of things, 
had been confided to General Gage, the commander in 
chief of the British army in America, and he had come to 
Boston at the head of a small force of troops. He was a 
weak, foolish, and imprudent man, who annoyed the colo- 
nists by a series of petty hostilities. In September (1774) 
he summoned the General Court to meet at Salem, the new 
capital of the province, in the following October, but after- 
wards put off its assembhng, as affairs had taken on a very 
threatening aspect. The representatives, however, met at 
the appointed time, formed themselves into a Provincial 
Congress, adjourned to Cambridge, and assumed the govern- 
ment of the province outside of Boston and other territory 
controlled by the soldiers. They appointed a receiver- 
general and advised the town officials to pay their propor- 
tions of the public taxes to him and not to Gage's treasurer. 
The Provincial Congress also began the reorganization of 
the military forces of the colony, and appointed a Com- 
mittee of Safety, which, with other committees, performed 
the administrative functions. The theory under which the 
radical leaders thus assumed the government was that as 
Parliament had no constitutional power to suspend the oper- 
ation of the charter, the government set up under the sus- 
pending act was in itself illegal. The charter, according to 
this idea, was still in force, and as Gage, the king's repre- 
sentative, would not govern according to its provisions, the 
people of the colony must provide for their own welfare. 



Chatham's 
advice. 
Old South 
Leaflets, 
IV, No. 2; 
Adams's 
British Ora- 
tions, I, 185. 



Gage at 
Boston. 
Winsor's 
America, 
VI, 113-125. 



Massa- 
chusetts 
prepares 
for war. 



1 66 



Intercolonial Union 



[§ 139 



Lexington, 
April. 1775. 
Fiske's 
Revolution, 
I, 120-123. 



Concord. 
Fiske's 
Revolution, 
123-128. 

Emerson's 
address, 
etc., in Old 
South 
Leaflets, 
I. No. 3. 



Gage, on his part, found himself almost powerless in 

Boston the people would not work for him, and the 

farmers of the neighboring country would not sell him sup- 
plies for his soldiers. Moreover, throughout the province, 
everywhere drilling and arming were in progress. He de- 
termined to disarm the people. His first attempt to seize 
stores at Salem ended in a ridiculous failure, but no blood 
was shed. On the night of the i8th of April, he detached 
a large body of men to seize stores which were said to be 
concealed at Concord. The march of the troops was to be 
secret, but fearless riders carried the news of the soldiers 
coming to Lexington and to Concord. On the morning of 
the 19th of April, when the British soldiers reached Lexing- 
ton, a small body of militiamen was seen drawn up on the 
town common. They dispersed when the size of the British 
column was apparent. Some one fired, whether American 
or Briton will never be known ; several were killed and 
others wounded. 

The soldiers pressed on to Concord, to find that most 
of the supplies had been removed ; there, a skirmish 
occurred with the militiamen, and the homeward march 
was one continuous conflict. The colonists pursued the 
retreating soldiers until the guns of the men-of-war an- 
chored off Charlestown gave them protection ; the provin- 
cials then withdrew and, instead of seeking their homes, 
encamped for the night at Cambridge, and began the 
blockade or siege of Boston. 



SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS AND TOPICS 
§§ n 3-1 16. England's Colonial Policy 

a. What is a "bounty " ? Just how is it paid? In the history of 
the United States what bounties have been paid ? 

b. Look up the subject of "general warrants" in English history. 
Get a warrant from your town officials, and note its exactness of 
description. What is the provision of the Constitution as to general 
warrants ? What of the constitution of your state ? 



Questions and Topics 1 67 

§§ 117, 118. American Political Theories 

a. "Redid 'Loc\iQ''s Second Essay on Govern?nent. Note its fundamental 
ideas ; watch for their enunciation in American political documents. 
d. What is the fundamental argument of both Otis and Henry ? 

§§ 119-X23. American and British Theories 

a. Was Grenville's contention — that the colonists should obey 
Acts of Parliament and pay a portion of the expense incurred in their 
defense — intrinsically just ? Give your reasons. 

b. What are the advantages and disadvantages of a stamp duty ? 
Why should we not have such a tax to-day ? 

c. Why has trial by jury been called " the most democratical of 
judicial institutions" ? Give arguments for and against it. Ask some 
friend of yours, who is a lawyer, to explain this to you. 

d. Requirement of residence for elector and for representative. 
Give the arguments for and against this requirement. How is the 
matter arranged in the Constitution ? in the constitution of your own 
state ? What is the practice in your own city or town or district ? 

§§ 124-126. The Stamp Act 

a. Under what heading in your note-book should the " Declaration of 
Rights " be entered, and why ? State the five principles it enunciates. 

b. State at length and compare the leading points in Pitt's and 
Mansfield's speeches ; in Grenville's and Camden's. 

§§ 127-134. The Townshend Acts 

a. Enumerate the Townshend Acts, and state what principle of 
government each one violated. 

b. Why did these Acts bear most heavily upon New England ? 

c. What was the first step in the formation of a complete revolution- 
ary organization ? the second step ? the third step ? the fourth step ? 

• §§ 135-139' Colonial Union and Rebellion 

a. Were the acts of 1774 "illegal"? Precisely what is meant by 
" illegal " ? Why was the first act declared by Burke to be unjust ? 
The second act has been called the most serious of all the grievances 
which led to the Revolution ; why ? 

b. Compare the Stamp Act Congress, the First Continental Con- 
gress, and the Second Continental Congress. Had any of these bodies 
any legal standing ? Prove your answer. 

c. Compare the " American Association " with associations of the 
present day ; e^, of Railway Employees. 



l68 Intercolonial Union 

Historical Geography 

Represent in colors upon your Map of the Proclamation of 1763 the 
boundaries of Quebec under the Act of 1774, and make any necessary 
change in the map of your state. 

General Questions 

a. Collect from this and the preceding chapter examples of the 
irritating effect of the Navigation Acts. 

b. State the several steps tovs'ards colonial union which you have so 
far met, and note in each the strength or weakness of the federal tie. 

c. What was the fundamental cause of the separation of the colo- 
nies from the British Empire ? 

d. Collect in separate lists all the examples of the four different 
means of resistance used by the colonists, — protests, riots, non-impor- 
tation, congresses. 

Topics for Investigation by Individual Students 
(See directions under this head on p. 48.) 

a. Where was the first shot fired that " was heard around the world "? 
Was it a British or an American shot ? Sources, Guide, p. 295. 

/'. Compare Jefferson's Summary Viezu and the Declaration of In- 
dependence (p. 163). 

c. Destruction of the Gaspee. Sources, Guide, p. 293. 

d. The Boston Massacre (p. 155). 

e. Franklin's examination (p. 148). 

f. Compare account of early life of Patrick Henry in Wirt's Henry 
and in Tyler's Henry. 



CHAPTER V 

INDEPENDENCE, 1 775-1 783 

Books for Consultation 

General Readings. — 'Lodge's English Co/onus, 4g2-^2i; Higgin* 
son's Lai-ger History, 249-293 ; Hart's Formadon of the Union, 70-106; 
Fiske's IVar of Independence, 86-193 *"d Civil Government, 161-180. 

Special Accounts. — Sloane's French War and the Revolution, 
192-388 ; Frothingham's Rise of the Republic ; Winsor's America, VI, 
VII; YvsV^^'i, Atnerican Revolution ; Gvctne's Historical View ; *Ban- 
croft's United States ; *Hildreth's United States; *Lecky's England, 
IV, chs. xiv, XV ; *Mahon's England ; Carrington's Battles of the Ameri- 
can Revolution ; Hosmer's Satnuel Adams (S. S.) ; Morse'syb/i« Adams 
(S. S.); Bigelow's />-a«M« ,• Lodge's Washington (^.'^.^•, Pellew's/ay 
(S.S.); ^\iXi\Xie'c''i, Robert Morris ; Schouler's/(?^^rj-o« (M. A.); Lowell's 
Hessians ; Greene's German Element ; Winsor's Memorial History of 
Boston; G'cz.Vi\^% Memorial History of Neiv York; LsiXneA^s History for 
Ready Reference, under United States and the several states. 

Sources. — Biographies and writings of Samuel Adams, John 
Adams, Burgoyne, Dickinson, Franklin, Greene, Hamilton, Henry, 
Jay, Jefferson, Lafayette, R. H. Lee, Pickering, Shelburne, and Wash- 
ington, see Guide, §§ 135, 25, 32, 33 ; Annual Register ; Chandler's 
American Criminal Trials; Sparks's Diplomatic Correspondence of 
the Revolution ; Wharton's Revolutionary Diplomatic Correspondence ; 
Hart's Contemporaries, Vol. II; Donne's Correspondence of George 
III and Lord North ; Journals of Congress ; Secret Journals of Con- 
gress ; Force's American Archives; Stedman and Hutchinson's 
Library of American Literature ; Niles's Principles and Acts of the 
Revolution ; American History Leaflets ; MacDonald's Documents. 

Maps. — Mac Coun's Historical Geography ; Carrington's Battles; 
Winsor's America ; Lowell's Hessians ; Hart's Epoch Maps, No. 6, 

Bibliography. — Channing and Hart, Guide to American History, 
§§ 56 a, 56 b (General Readings), §§ 135-141 (Topics and References). 

Illustrative Material. — Roosevelt's Winning of the West, II ; 
Longfellow's Paul Revere's Ride ; Holmes's Grandmother'' s Story of 
Bunker Hill; Mrs. Child's The Rebels; Eggleston's American War 

169 



170 



Independence 



[§ 140 



Ballads; Moore's Ballads of the American Revolution; Sargent's 
Loyalist Poetry of the Revolution ; Campbell's Gertrude of Wyoming; 
Dunlap's /^«^/r^'/ Freneau's /'c^wi ; Hopkinson's Battle of the Kegs; 
Cooke's Bonnybel Vane; Cooper's Lionel Lincoln (Bunker Hill), 
The Pilot, The Spy; Bret Harte's Thankful Blossom; Cooke's Vir- 
ginia (A. C.) ; Hawthorne's Septimius Fellon ; Kennedy's Horseshoe 
Robinson ; Paulding's The Old Continental; Roe^s Near to Nature's 
Heart; Simms's The Partisan, Mellichampe, The Scout, Katharine 
Walton, The Foragers, Eiitaw; Parton's Franklin and Jefferson; 
Lossing's Field- Book of the Revolution ; *Parker's Historic Americans ; 
Burke's Speeches on Conciliation with America ; *Jones's New York 
in the Revolutionary War; *Lossing's Life of Schuyler; *Rush's 
Washington in Domestic Life; Stille's Beaimtarchais ; Hale's Frank- 
lin in France ; Sabine's Loyalists ; Tyler's Literature of the Revolution; 
Sullivan's Public Men of the Revolution ; Bynner's Agnes Surriage ; 
Brackenridge's Bunker Hill; Harold Frederic's Ln the Valley; Altsheler's 
Suti of Saratoga. 



Growth 
of the 
colonies. 



Restrictions 
on manu- 
facturing. 



INDEPENDENCE, 1 775-1 783 

140. Material Prosperity, 1775. — Notwithstanding the 
controversies and conflicts described in the last chapter, 
the years 1760 to 1775 marked a period of great material 
development. The population of the colonies had in- 
creased marvellously, from about sixteen hundred thousand 
in 1760 to about twenty-five hundred thousand in 1775. 
Trade and commerce had thriven ; for, although the naviga- 
tion laws and the -acts of trade would have borne harshly on 
the mercantile colonies, had they been enforced, the injury 
they inflicted was trifling, as they were never carried out. 
On the other hand, a large amount of money was paid to 
the colonists in the way of premiums and bounties on 
colonial staples. 

The laws designed to cramp colonial manufacturing pre- 
vented the growth of industry and worked great hardship. 
Among the last of these laws was one which prohibited the 
export of any machinery or patterns of machinery from 
England (1770). The aim of this enactment was to pre- 
vent the establishment of textile industries in the colonies. 
Combined with the prohibition of the manufacture of wool 



'7753 



Advantages of the Colonists 



171 



and iron, this act may be regarded as showing a determina- 
tion on the part of the rulers of England to prevent the 
establishment of manufacturing industries in the colonies 
and to restrain the colonists to agricultural and commercial 
pursuits. Notwithstanding these prohibitions and restric- 
tions, the colonies were practically self-sustaining in 1775, 
although the interruption of foreign trade deprived them 
of articles of everyday use which were not actually neces- 
sary to existence and yet cannot be regarded as luxuries. 
Arms and military equipments were not produced in any 
quantity in America ; those needed during the war were 
mainly obtained from the French, although some were cap- 
tured from the British. 

141. Advantages of the Colonists. — The colonists were 
greatly inferior in numbers and in resources to the people 
of Great Britain. That they were able to hmit the British 
to the occupation of a few seaboard towns, and finally to 
achieve their independence, was due (i) to the defective 
strategy of the British, (2) to the aid given by the French, 
and (3) to the nature of the field of operations. As to the 
first of these, it is not necessary to say much. The British 
commanders were generally inferior to the American ; it is 
indeed extraordinary how few men of ability the British 
army contained. But the fundamental plan of their cam- 
paign was wrong, as they sought to occupy territory instead 
of crushing opposition. 

Without the aid given by the French, at first in the form 
of war materials, and later in the shape of liberal contribu- 
tions of money, a splendid army, and a formidable naval 
force, the war certainly would not have been brought to a 
successful termination in 1781, although the colonists prob- 
ably would have succeeded in the end. 

The geographical features of the country east of the 
Alleghany Mountains greatly assisted the successful resist- 
ance of the colonists. From north to south, the theater 
of war measured more than a thousand miles in extent, 
but from east to west the distance was very much 



Reasons 
for the 
colonists' 
success. 



Inferiority 
of British 
com- 
manders. 



French aid. 



GeographicaJ 
features. 



172 



Independence 



[§ 142 



Siege of 

Boston, 

1775-76. 

Winsor's 

America, 

VI, 128-134; 

Fiske's 

Revolution, 

I, 136-146. 



Bunker Hill. 
Winsor's 
America, 
VI, 134-140. 



less: in some regions it was not a hundred miles wide. 
When hard pressed, the colonial armies were nearly always 
able to retire to inaccessible hilly regions, where pursuit 
was dangerous, if not impossible. The long, thin fringe 
of the continent was intersected by large and deep rivers 
and by arms of the sea : there were a dozen fields of opera- 
tion in place of one. For instance, the Hudson River, 
with Lake Champlain, divided New England from the rest 
of the continent (p. 11); the Mohawk separated the Hud- 
son valley into two distinct parts; Delaware and Chesa- 
peake bays and the rivers of Virginia (p. 497) made a 
campaign of invasion south of the Hudson a matter of great 
difficulty; and the Carolinas were cut up into several geo- 
graphical districts by marshes, by large regions of sandy, 
sparsely settled country, and by long deep rivers extremely 
subject to floods. Portions of this territory were still hardly 
better than a wilderness: good roads, suitable for the 
movement of army trains and artillery, were to be found 
only in the vicinity of the larger towns; and even these 
were impassable during a large portion of each year. On 
the other hand, good harbors everywhere abounded and 
made the business of the privateer and the blockade runner 
peculiarly easy. 

142. Bunker Hill, 1775. —The siege or blockade of 
Boston lasted for almost eleven months, from April 19, 
1775, to March 17, 1776. During those months, a force 
drawn from all the New England colonies, and, after July, 
i775> from the other colonies as well, blockaded the British 
army. In all this time there was but one action deserving 
the name of battle,— the battle of Bunker Hill. On June 
16 reports reached the colonial headquarters that the 
British commander intended to seize Dorchester Heights. 
To divert him from the execution of this plan, the Com- 
mittee of Safety ordered the seizure of Bunker Hill. On 
the night of the i6th. Colonel Prescott occupied Bread's 
Hill, which was nearer Boston. When day dawned, he must 
have seen that his position was untenable : there were no 



1775] 



Bunker Hill 



173 



batteries on the mainland to guard the neck leading to 
Charlestown; it was possible for Gage to station vessels 
in the Charles and Mystic rivers and concentrate such a 
fire on the isthmus that no one could cross it; the British 
could then occupy Bunker Hill and hold the force in the 
redoubt at their mercy. On the morning of the 17th, 
Stark and his men from New Hampshire hastened to 




Joseph Warrt-n 
(Killed at Bunker Hill) 

Prescott's succor. Under Gage's orders, five thousand 
British soldiers, commanded by Howe, Clinton, and Pigott, 
attacked the Americans in front; they were twice beaten 
back, and only the failure of the American ammunition 
made their third assault a success. The British loss on that 
day was from one thousand to fifteen hundred men; that 
of the colonists was about four hundred. The Americans 
were beaten, although they were not captured to a man, 




George Washington, 1772 
After a painting by C. W. Peale — the earliest known portrait of Washington 



174 



1776] 



Evacuation of Boston 



175 



as they should have been. Seldom has a defeat proved so 

inspiriting to the vanquished and so disheartening to the 

victors. The caution which Howe, 

who soon succeeded Gage, showed 9<.y£^^^ --/Y'^i.-^/^ 

as long as he commanded the British ' 

army can be traced directly to the lesson he received on 

this memorable field. ' 

143. Evacuation of Boston, 1776. — Meantime, the Sec- 
ond Continental Congress had met at Philadelphia in May 
(1775), had adopted the army blockading Boston as a 
national force, and had given it a commander, — Colonel 
George Washington of Virginia. He assumed direction 
of the military operations on July 3, 1775, and at once 
found that he had a most disheartening task before him. 
A full understanding of the difificulties which beset him can 
best be learned from his correspondence : his army, based 
on short terms of enlistment, constantly changed in number 
and personnel; he had no heavy guns suited to siege opera- 
tions, and for weeks at a time had no powder, save what 
the men had in their pouches. Washington was obliged to 
present a bold front to the enemy, but was unable to under- 
take any active movement or to explain the reasons for his 
inaction. In the winter of 1775-76, heavy guns, which 
had been captured in May, 1775, at Ticonderoga and 
Crown Point, by men from western New England, were 
drawn over the snow to his lines, and the capture of a 
British vessel provided the necessary powder. Now, at" 
last, Washington was able to assume the offensive. In 
March, 1776, he seized and held Dorchester Heights. The 
town and harbor of Boston could no longer be held by the 
British, and on March 17 they evacuated the town, and 
shortly after left the harbor. 

Meantime two columns, led by Richard Montgomery 
and Benedict Arnold, had invaded Canada. Montgomery 
perished gallantly under the walls of Quebec. The rem- 
nants of these forces were rescued with the greatest diffi- 
culty in the spring and summer of 1776. 



Continental 

Congress 

assumes 

charge of 

war. Fiske's 

Revolution, 

I, 132-136 ; 

*Froth- 

ingham's 

Republic, 

419-431. 



Fiske's 

Revolution 

129-132. 



Evacuation 
of Boston. 
Winsor's 
America, 
VI, 142-158. 

Invasion 
of Canada. 
Winsor's 
A "/erica, 
VI, 160-167; 
Fiske's 
Revolution, 
I, 164-169. 



I/O 



Independence 



[§ 145 



Change of 
sentiment 
in regard to 
independ- 
ence, 
1775-76. 



Jefferson in 
Congress. 



The " Olive 
Branch 
Petition," 
1775. Froth- 
ingham's 
Republic. 
435. 444-447. 
451- 

Effect of 
the king's 
answer. 



Changes 
in local 
government. 



144. Growth towards Independence, 1775, 1776. — In 

1776, Washington wrote, "When I took command of the 
army [July, 1775], I abhorred the idea of independence; 
now, I am convinced, nothing else will save us." There 
is every reason to believe that Washington's feelings on 
this subject were those of a large portion of his country- 
men. Between July, 1775, and May, 1776, there was a 
great revulsion of feeling against the further continuance 
of the union with Great Britain. This change in the senti- 
ments of thousands of colonists can be traced directly 
to a few leading causes: (i) the contemptuous refusal by 
George III of the "Olive Branch" petition; (2) the for- 
mation of the state governments; (3) the establishment of 
a national organization; (4) the arguments embodied in 
the writings of Thomas Paine; and (5) the employment 
of the " Hessian " soldiers by the British government. 

In 1775 Thomas Jefferson succeeded Washington as a 
member of the Virginia delegation. It is not probable 
that he at once exerted much influence in Congress; but 
the petition which that body addressed to the king in July, 
1775, was much bolder in tone than the preceding pe- 
tition. Congress now demanded the repeal of "such 
statutes as more immediately distress any of your Majesty's 
Colonies." The king refused even to return a formal 
answer to this "Olive Branch" petition, as the colonists 
regarded it; instead he issued a proclamation denouncing 
the colonists as "dangerous and ill-designing men . . , 
who had at length proceeded to an open and avowed 
rebellion." As to the effect of this proclamation on the 
public mind, John Jay wrote, "Until after the rejection 
of the second petition of Congress in 1775, I never heard 
an American of any class or of any description express a 
wish for the independence of the colonies." 

145. The State Constitutions, 1775, i776. — Another 
important step in bringing about the change in sentiment 
noted in the preceding section, was the necessity for mak- 
ihg new provisions for government in the several colonies. 



1776] 



TJie State Constitutions 



177 



In some cases, as in Virginia and New Hampshire, the 
departure of the royal governors left the people without any 
government; in other cases, as in Massachusetts, resistance 
to the royal authorities made new arrangements necessary. 
In the last-named colony, a revolutionary jody termed the 
Provincial Congress had assumed charge of the government 
of the province. The people, however, were restless, and 
those in power turned to the Continental Congress for 
advice. On June 9, 1775, that body voted, that as no 
obedience was due to the act of Parliament altering the 
charter of the colony of Massachusetts, nor to a governor 
who would not govern according to the charter, he should 
be considered as absent and the colonists advised to pro- 
ceed under the charter without a governor "until a governor 
of his Majesty's appointment will consent to govern the 
colony according to the charter." The condition of affairs 
in New Hampshire was different, as that province had no 
charter to fall back upon: Congress, therefore, voted in 
her case (November, 1775), "That it be recommended to 
the provincial convention of New Hampshire to call a full 
and free representation of the people . . . [to] establish 
such a form of government as in their judgment will best 
produce the happiness of the people, and most effectually 
secure peace and good order in that province, during the 
continuance of the present dispute between Great Britain 
and the colonies." Both Massachusetts and New Hamp- 
shire proceeded in accordance with the advice of Congress. 
It will be noticed that Congress in these votes provided 
only for a temporary arrangement and evinced no desire 
for independence. 

By May of the next year, the temper of Congress and of 
the people had undergone a radical change. On May 15 
(1776) Congress recommended "the respective assemblies 
and conventions of the United Colonies, where no govern- 
ment sufficient to the exigencies of their affairs hath been 
hitherto established, to adopt such a government as shall 
in the opinion of the representatives of the people best 



Advice of 
Congress, 
1775- 



Advice of 

Congress, 

1776. 

*Froth- 

ingliam's 

Republic, 

496-498. 



1/8 



Independence 



[§146 



Early state 
constitutions. 
Charters and 
Constitutions 
of the United 
States. 



Authority 
of the 

Continental 
Congress. 



conduce to the happiness and safety of their constituents 
in particular, and of America in general." Among the 
first colonies to act under this suggestion was Virginia, 
which was at the moment governed by a convention elected 
by the people. It adopted (June, 1776) a constitution 
which consisted of three parts : a Bill of Rights by George 
Mason, a Declaration of Independence by Thomas Jef- 
ferson, and a Frame of Government. The first of these 
contains an admirable exposition of the American theory 
of government, equaled in that respect only by the Decla- 
ration of Independence of July, 1776, and by the Bill of 
Rights drawn by John Adams and prefixed to the Massa- 
chusetts constitution of 1780. The clause in the Virginia 
Bill of Rights declaring for freedom of religion was the 
earliest enunciation on that subject during the Revolution- 
ary era ; it was probably the work of Madison and Patrick 
Henry. None of these early constitutions was submitted 
to the people for ratification, with the exception of that 
of Massachusetts (1780), which was also drafted by a body 
especially chosen by the people for that purpose. The 
South Carolina constitution, on the other hand, was merely 
an act of the legislative body. Connecticut and Rhode 
Island proceeded under their seventeenth-century charters, 
with scarcely any changes at all. 

146. Organization of a General Government. — Still an- 
other thing which turned the thoughts of the colonists in 
the direction of independence was the establishment of 
a general government. The First Continental Congress 
(1774) resembled the Stamp Act Congress (1765) in being 
simply an advisory body. The Second Continental Con- 
gress was at first an advisory body ; but the march of events 
speedily compelled it to assume and exercise sovereign 
powers: in June, 1775, it took charge of the general 
defense of the colonies, set on foot an army, and drew 
up regulations for its government ; it established " a 
Committee of Correspondence with our friends abroad " 
(November, 1775), and from that time assumed the ex 



1776] Organization of a General Government 179 

elusive management of foreign affairs ; it also issued paper 
money to provide for the payment of the soldiers and 
for supplying the army with provisions. In fine, it exer- 
cised in the colonies functions which, up to that time, had 
been performed by the British government. 

The attention of the people was especially directed Thomas 
toward the subject of independence by the arguments set writings. 

THE 



AMERICAN CRISIS. 

Number L 
By the Author of COMMON SENSE. 



THESE are the times thnt trf msn's fculs : Ttie 
fonimer faltiisr and the Cuufliioc patiiot will; it> ihis 
crifis iljriuk ixom the fervicc or ln<> conrit'y : but lie 
ihat Hands it .•JCTO*''d«fervcs «hc love ard tjianks oF 

(Reprinted in Old South Leaflets, IV, No. 4) 

forth by Thomas Paine in a remarkable pamphlet entitled Fiske's 

Common Sense. In this paper, he maintained in simple ^^^""'^^^o"' 

and convincing language that reason dictated independence, »iFroth- 

because it was improbable that foreign nations would inter- ingham's 

vene on the side of the colonists so long as they continued ^f " 'f] 

° •' . . 471-470; 

to acknowledge allegiance to the king of Great Britam. Hart's Con- 

Many people were still lukewarm on this matter, when the temporaries, 
announcement reached America that the British govern- 



i8o 



Independence 



[§ 14? 



The 

Hessians. 
Winsor's 
America, 
VII, 18-24. 



ment was preparing to employ foreign soldiers to crush 
resistance in the colonies. 

147. The Hessians. — In the long category of grievances 
which forms so striking a feature of the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence, is the "transporting [of] large armies of foreign 
mercenaries" to overwhelm the colonial forces. It was 
not exactly fair to call them mercenaries, as it was not 
the soldiers who sold their services to a foreign government, 
but their princely masters, for whom, indeed, the word 
"mercenary" is far too mild. These. German veterans 
were hired by the British government from the Landgrave 
of Hesse-Cassel and other German princes. The terms of 
the contracts for the hiring of the men were peculiar, one 
of them making it more profitable for the soldiers to be 
killed in America than to be returned home. In all, they 
numbered about thirty thousand, eighteen thousand of 
whom arrived in 1776, mostly from Hesse-Cassel; for this 
reason they were generally known as Hessians. To the 
British authorities there seemed nothing peculiar in 
employing them: the British king was a German prince, 
although he himself had been born in England; in the 
continental wars in which Great Britain had borne a part 
in the preceding half century, it had always been custom- 
ary to hire German troops. The only difference between 
the two cases was that there the soldiers were employed 
to fight against their own flesh and blood, sometimes sol- 
diers from the same state being loaned to both sides; now, 
however, they were used by the British government to kill 
English people who happened to live beyond the ocean. 
This difference, however, was a great one and the opposition 
in Parliament endeavored to convince the government of the 
danger of employing them, but in vain : the acquisition of a 
body of splendid troops at a low rate was viewed by the 
mass of Englishmen with rejoicing. They were good sol- 
diers, better suited perhaps to the cultivated lands of 
Europe than to the wilderness of America, but they ren- 
dered good service from a military point of view. From 



1776] 



The Declaration of Indepe^idence 



i«l 



a political point of view, however, their employment was a 
terrible blunder. Thousands of colonists who had hesitated 
about consenting to independence were now convinced of 
the necessity of that measure; tens of thousands were con- 
verted to the necessity of the policy which culminated in 
the French alliance : the king had called the Germans to 
his aid, why should not the colonists accept the help prof- 
fered by their ancient enemies, the French? In short, 
by June, 1776, the radical party in the colonies was pre- 
pared to advocate separation from the home land. 

148. The Declaration of Independence. — The Virginia 
convention took the lead in this movement and (May, 1776) 
instructed its delegates in Congress to propose a declaration 
of independence. In compliance with these instructions, 
on June 7, Richard Henry Lee, the chairman of the Vir- 
ginia delegation, moved three resolutions, of which the first 
is here given in full: "That these United Colonies are, 
and of right ought to be, free and independent states, that 
they are absolved from all allegiance to the British crown, 
and that all political connection between them and the 
state of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved." 
The other resolutions provided for the formation of a con- 
federation between the new states and for the establishment 
of alliances with foreign powers. 

The first resolution was briefly debated at the time; but 
it was plain that many members were not then willing to 
vote in favor of it, either because they had not made up 
their own minds on the subject, or because they did not 
know how their constituents viewed the matter; its further 
consideration was therefore postponed until July i. Mean- 
time a committee, composed of Thomas Jefferson, Benja- 
min Franklin, John Adams, Roger Sherman, and Robert 
R. Livingston, was appointed to draft a declaration for 
consideration in case the resolution should be adopted. 
Jefferson's Summary View and Virginia Declaration of 
Independence clearly marked him out as the person most 
fitted to formulate the ideas which were then uppermost 



Lee's 

resolutions, 
June, 1776. 



The 

Declaration 
of Inde- 
pendence. 
Higginson's 
Larger 
History, 
eh. xi; 
Fiske's 
Revolution, 
I, 191-197 ; 
Schouler's 
yefferson ; 
«Froth- 
ingham's 
Republic, 
532-558. 




l82 



1776] 



The Declaration of Independence 



183 



§47h. 



m the minds of the radicals. Without reference " to book Portions 
or pamphlet," he wrote out the rough draft of the Declara- memorized 
tion. " I did not consider it as any part of my charge to Guide, 
invent new ideas altogether, and to offer no sentiment which 
had never been expressed before." In point of fact, there 
are no ideas in the Declaration which had not long been 
in print. The first part of it is an exposition of the politi- 
cal theories which underlie the Americ3.n system of govern- 
ment; these were gathered by the men of the Revolution, 
from Otis to Jefferson, mainly from John Locke's immortal 
Essay on Government. Jefferson was so familiar with 
Locke's essay, that in some cases he repeated the actual 
words of the great philosopher, as, for example, in the sen- 
tence, " But when a long train of abuses." The idea of the 
natural equality of man was taken directly from Locke and 
has no relation to the French school of philosophy. The 
student should be especially careful to guard against one 
of the common errors in American history, that the Declara- 
tion declares men to be free and equal, as there is no such 
statement in the document ; the words are : " All men are 
created equal." The rough draft, as it came from Jeffer- 
son's pen, contained a strong statement against the slave 
trade. The phraseology was carefully revised by Franklin 
and Adams and the other member of the committee, and 
reported to Congress ou J-ine 28 Oi; July i, Lee's first 
resolution was taken from the table and debated at length. 
In the discussion which followed, it was defended by John 
Adams, while the arguments on the other side were ably 
stated by John Dickinson, who, sturdy patriot that he was, 
could not bring himself to acquiesce in independence. 
On July 2 the resolution was adopted, all the states voting 
in the affirmative save New York, and within a couple of 
weeks her delegates were instructed to assent to it. The 
Declaration, as reported by the committee, was then taken 
up, carefully considered, and greatly improved in many 
respects ; but the clause denouncing the slave trade was 
struck out. Notwithstanding all these alterations, the Decla- 



Debate on 
Lee's first 
resolution. 



1 84 



Independence 



[§ 149 



Adoption 
of the 

Declaration, 
July 4, 1776. 



Signing 
of the 

Declaration, 
August 2, 
1776. 

*Winsor's 
America, 
VI, 268. 



♦Massa- 
chusetts 
Historical 
Society 
Proceedings , 
1884, p. 273. 



Struggle for 
the Hudson. 
Winsor's 
America, 
VI, 275-291 ; 
Fiske's 
Revolution, 
I, 200-228. 



ration as adopted on July 4 was substantially, with the 
exception above noted, as it was written by Jefferson. It 
was then referred back to the committee, that the language 
of the amendments and of the original might be made 
harmonious. A few copies were printed and published on 
July 5, authenticated with the signatures of the president 
and secretary of Congress. Subsequently (August 2, 1776), 
the Declaration, engrossed on parchment, was signed by 
the members of Congress present at the time of the 
signing, and two signatures were added later. The story 
of the document has been related at length because 
there is no more curious misconception in American 
history than the one which attributes the signing of 
the Declaration of Independence to July 4 : the way in 
which the error arose can be discovered by reading Judge 
Chamberlain's scholarly essay upon the subject. The 
greater part of the Declaration is taken up with the enumer- 
ation of a "long train of abuses," which justified the colo- 
nists in renouncing allegiance to the British crown ; a 
careful study of that portion of the document would in 
itself give an insight into the history of America during 
the first three quarters of the eighteenth century. 

149. Campaign of 1776. — The scene of conflict was now 
transferred to New York. Sir William Howe, the new 
British commander, was able to bring into the field about 
twice as many men as Washington could muster for the 
defense of that important seaport. The Americans were 
gradually forced backward until they were divided into two 
bodies, — one in the Hudson valley, north of New York, 
barring the further progress of the British up the river, the 
other on the western side of the Delaware, guarding the 
crossings of that important stream. The British army oc- 
cupied the intervening region. This was the darkest hour 
of the Revolution : the American army was rapidly dwin- 
dling away; poverty was staring Congress in the face, and 
the forces of the king, abundantly supplied with all that 
was necessary for their comfort, were flushed with victory. 



^in'\ 



Campaign of 1777 



185 



In these circumstances, Washington conceived and exe- 
cuted a movement which in its conception and in its exe- 
cution showed the highest military skill. At Trenton, on 
the eastern bank of the Delaware, was a British outpost of 
about one thousand men, mostly Hessians. Crossing the 
Delaware on Christmas night (1776), Washington surprised 
and captured nearly the whole detachment. Cornwallis, 
with a strong force, was immediately sent against him; 
but Washington gained his rear, and, after a sharp engage- 
ment at Princeton, went into camp on the hills of New 
Jersey. His presence there compelled the British to 
abandon nearly all their outposts in that state, and to 
concentrate their forces within reach of support from 
New York. 

150. Campaign of 1777. — The British plan of campaign 
for 1777 included two separate movements, — the capture 
of Philadelphia and the isolation of New England by the 
occupation of the line of the Hudson River and Lake 
Champlain. The first part of this plan, which was entirely 
unjustifiable from a military point of view, was successfully 
accomplished : Howe, with the greater part of the main 
British army, sailed from New York to the Chesapeake, 
marched overland to the Delaware, and, after an action at 
Brandywine Creek, compelled Washington to retire up the 
Schuylkill. The British then occupied Philadelphia and 
captured the forts below the city. Washington, on his 
part, attacked a portion of the British army at Germantown, 
near Philadelphia, but was compelled to retire. The with- 
drawal of so many soldiers from New York left Clinton, 
who commanded there, too weak to afford effective assist- 
ance in the operations intended to separate New England 
from the rest of the continent. 

The command of the army which was designed to accom- 
plish this task was intrusted to Burgoyne. The attempt 
was probably foredoomed to failure : the weakness of 
the British force at New York enabled the Americans to 
concentrate their strength against Burgoyne, and Sir Guy 



Trenton. 
Winsor's 
America, 

VI, 370-379; 

Fiske's 
Revolution, 
I, 229-238. 



Plan of 

campaign, 

1777. 



Capture of 
Philadelphia, 
1777. 
Winsor's 

America, 
VI, 380-393; 
Fiske's 
Revolution, 
I, 299-308, 
312-324. 



i86 



Independence 



[§ 150 



Burgoyne's 
campaign. 
Winsor's 
America, 
VI, 291-314; 
Fiske's 
Revolution, 
I, 260-298, 

308-3". 
324-337. 



Carleton, the British governor in Canada, nettled at not 
having the command of this expedition, did not give Bur- 
goyne the effective assistance he might have afforded. At 
first, however, Burgoyne enjoyed a gleam of success: he 
met with slight opposition from the Americans on Lake 
Champlain, as they abandoned Ticonderoga without strik- 
ing a blow. When he began his march across the portage 
between Lakes Champlain and George and the Hudson 

River, his misfortunes 
began: General Schuy- 
ler had done everything 
in his power to delay 
the British advance by 
felling trees across the 
paths and filling up 
the creeks; it took 
Burgoyne fifty days 
to march seventy-five 
miles; the delay was of 
the utmost importance 
to the Americans, as it 
gave the New England 
militiamen time to leave 
their homes and gather 
on the line of the British advance. Schuyler was then 
dismissed for political reasons, and the command given 
to Horatio Gates. Disasters now crowded fast on 
Burgoyne : Stark with men from western Massachusetts 
and New Hampshire overwhelmed a detachment sent 
to seize supplies at Bennington; and St. Leger, march- 
ing to Burgoyne's aid from Canada by the line of 
the Mohawk, was obliged to turn back. On September 
19 the British army, advancing southward on the west 
bank of the Hudson, encountered a strong force of 
Americans under Arnold and Morgan at a clearing in 
the forest known as Freeman's Farm. After a fierce en- 
counter, Arnold retired to the main body of the American 




General Stark 



1 88 Independence [§151 

army on Bemis Heights, and Burgoyne threw up entrench- 
ments where he was. On October 7 the Americans attacked 
him, one party under Arnold penetrating to the center of 
the British position. Unable to advance, and suffering 
for provisions, the British endeavored to make their way 
back to Canada. When they again reached the crossing- 
place of the Hudson, a strong force of Americans was 
found posted on the eastern bank. Further retreat was 
impossible; no aid could reach them from New York, and 
the British laid down their arms (October 17, 1777). 
The The terms of their surrender were embodied in an agree- 

Saratoga ment or convention, known as the Saratoga Convention. 
1777. ■ According to this, the British troops were to march to 
*Winsor's Boston and there embark on transports, to be furnished by 
America, ^ ^j^^ British government, on condition that they should not 
Fiske's again serve in North America until exchanged. This 

Revolution, agreement was most disadvantageous for the Americans, 
since the soldiers might be, and probably would be, used 
in Europe against allies, as the French, who might come 
to the colonists' aid, or they could be stationed in garri- 
sons in the British Isles, and the soldiers already in those 
garrisons transferred to America. This convention should 
never have been made, but once having been concluded, 
should have been carried out. Congress, however, seized 
the first opportunity to avoid giving up the captured sol- 
diers, and the British on their side did not keep to the 
spirit of the agreement: public property, which rightfully 
belonged to the captors, was not given up, and Burgoyne 
uttered some rash words to the effect that the convention 
had been broken by the Americans. The Americans 
understood that the British government would not regard 
the convention as binding. After a winter passed in the 
vicinity of Boston, the " convention troops " were marched 
to the interior of Pennsylvania and Virginia and remained 
there during the war. 

151. The Conway Cabal, 1777, 1778. — One of the earli- 
est results of the capture of Burgoyne' s army was an attempt 



1777] 



TJie Conway Cabal 



189 



to displace Washington, with a view to the appointment 
of Gates in his stead. At the present time, few Ameri- 
cans doubt the pre-eminent qualities of Washington; to 
foreigners as well, he stand's foremost as the embodiment 
of patriotism, common sense, and honesty; and his cam- 
paigns attest his military capacity. To many men of the 
Revolutionary epoch, he did not appear in so favorable 
a light. Disaffected ofificers and suspicious members of 
Congress united to disparage his actions. They naturally 

gathered to Gates 
as their chosen 
leader, and he was 
weak enough to 
listen to their ad- 
vances. The mat- 
ter soon came to 




Steuben 



the knowledge of 
Washington, and 
that was the end 
of it. This dark 
intrigue, known 
as the Conway 
Cabal from one 
of the leading actors in it, is well worth studying by all 
those who desire to see under the surface of the Revolu- 
tionary period, to discover the sordid nature of many acts 
of so-called patriotism, and to view many of the Revolu- 
tionary heroes as they really were. 

In point of fact, the winter following the victory on the 
upper Hudson was the most critical period of the Revo- 
lution, excepting the last three months of the preceding 
year (1776). The sufferings of the army at Valley Forge 
are described in every history of that time; but it is only 
from Washington's own words that an adequate idea of 
them can be gathered: "To see men without clothes to 
cover their nakedness, without blankets to lie on, without 
shoes (for the want of which their marches might be traced 



Conspiracy 

to displace 

Wasliington. 

Fiske's 

Revolution, 

II, 32-43. 

Sparks's 

Washington' i 

Writings, 

V, app. vi ; 

Lodge's 

W 'ashington, 

I, 2IO-220. 



The winter 
at Valley 
Forge, 
1777-78. 
Fiske's 
Revolution, 
II, 25-32, 
51-56. 



iQc Independence I§ 152 

by the blood from their feet) ... is a proof of patience 
and obedience which, in my opinion, can scarce be paral- 
leled." And again: " For some days there has been little 
less than a famine in camp. A part of the army has been 
a week without any kind of flesh. . . . Naked and starving 
as they are, we cannot enough admire the incomparable 
patience and fidelity of the soldiery." At one time, no 
fewer than two thousand eight hundred men were unfit for 
duty for want of shoes or clothing; the terrible sufferings 
of those months knit the soldiers together into one compact 
army. During that winter, also, Baron Steuben, a Prussian 
veteran, drilled them so admirably that when they again 
took the field, the troops of the Continental Line, as the 
more permanent organizations were called, were as good as 
any to be found in the world. 
The "Lost 152. The French Alliance, 1778. — Commissioners from 
\iiiiion." ^}^g United States had been at Paris since 1776; they were 
America, Silas Deane, Arthur Lee, and Benjamin Franklin, to men- 
V!i, 26-34. tion them in the order of their arrival. Deane found the 
French government willing to assist the Americans with 
arms and supplies, but it insisted that the transfer should 
be carried on through a fictitious Spanish firm, Hortalez 
et cie, whose sole partner turned out to be Caron de Beau- 
marchais, the writer of plays. To him the French govern- 
ment intrusted a large sum of money, which was to be used 
to evade the vigilance of the British ambassador, and to 
overcome the many obstacles which the authorities were 
obliged to place in the way of the traffic to aid in the deceit. 
With this exception, the business was carried on as an 
ordinary mercantile transaction, and Beaumarchais expected 
to be paid by Congress for the military materials he fur- 
nished to them. Arthur Lee, when he reached Paris, be- 
came most unreasonably jealous of Deane. He found out 
about the money advanced to Beaumarchais, and informed 
Ins friends in Congress that the munitions and accoutre- 
ments were the gift of the French government. Congress 
therefore refused to pay for them, drove Deane into bank- 



1778J Lord North's Conciliatory Proposals 191 



ruptcy, and greatly injured Beaumarchais; the whole affair 
of " the lost million " was one of the most singular and least 
creditable episodes of the Revolution. 

Burgoyne's surrender convinced the French that the 
Americans were likely to maintain their position. They 
were now willing to intervene openly in the dispute. 
Under these circumstances, negotiations were easily brought 
to a conclusion, and treaties of commerce and alliance 
between the United States and France were signed early in 
1778. By the first of these treaties France acknowledged 
the independence of the United States and entered into 
commercial arrangements with the new nation. The treaty 
of alliance stipulated that in case war should break out be- 
tween France and Great Britain in consequence of the 
friendly attitude of France, that country and the United 
States should make common cause against Great Britain, 
and that neither party should make a truce or peace without 
first obtaining the consent of the other. The two govern- 
ments mutually guaranteed their possessions in America 
forever against all other powers and made arrangements 
for the division of territory which might be conquered 
from Great Britain outside of the limits of the United 
States. 

153. Lord North's Conciliatory Proposals, 1778. — The 
British' government at once declared war against France, 
and the treaty of alliance came into operation. Chatham 
proposed to withdraw the British armies from the United 
States, win back the good will of the Americans, and 
together wage war against France and Spain, in case the 
latter power should join in the contest. The king, how- 
ever, would not intrust the government to Chatham, but 
suggested that he might take office under Lord North. 
That compliant minister, on his part, astonished his sup- 
porters by bringing in a new Declaratory Act, under which 
Parliament abandoned the right to "impose any duty, tax, 
or assessment whatsoever . . . only such duties as it may 
be expedient to impose for the regulation of commerce, 



Treaties with 
France, 1778. 
Winsor's 
America, 
VII, 43-49; 
Fiske's 
Revolution, 
11.9. 



Chatham's 

and North's 

proposals, 

1778. 

Winsor's 

America, 

VII, 49-52; 

Fiske's 
Revolution, 

11,4-9. 
11-24. 



192 



Independence 



[§ 154 



Battle of 
Monmouth, 

1778; 
treason of 
Charles Lee. 
Winsor's 
America, 

VI, 397-400; 

Fiske's 
Revolution, 
II. 58-72- 



the net produce of such duties to be always paid and applied 
to and for the use of the colony in which the same shall 
be levied." Commissioners were appointed to negotiate 
with the Continental Congress on these terms. The day 
for halfway measures was past, and nothing came of the 
attempt. The war continued, but from this time on the 
British assumed the 
defensive in the 
Northern states. 

154. Treason of 
Charles Lee, 1778. — 
The first military 
result to flow from 
the French alliance 
was the withdrawal 
of the British army 
from Philadelphia 
across the Jerseys to 
New York. Wash- 
ington determined 
to strike the British 
while on the march, 
should a favorable 
opportunity occur. 
The command of the 
attacking force he 

intended to confide to Lafayette, who, young as he was, 
had shown marked military ability. Unfortunately, Charles 
Lee, a renegade Englishman, who had been captured by the 
British in 1776, returned from captivity in time to claim the 
command of the advance by right of seniority. The Ameri- 
cans overtook the British army near Monmouth; Lee lost 
•control of his men and withdrew them in disorder. At that 
moment Washington reached the front, saved the army, and 
assumed so threatening an attitude that Howe's successor, 
Sir Henry Clinton, without waiting for daylight, resumed 
his march "by the light of the moon," — to use his own 




General Wayne 



'779-8ol 



Arnold's Treason 



193 



phrase. Lee was tried by court-martial and dismissed 
from the army; there is now little question that he had 
entered into treasonable communications with the British 
authorities. 

Monmouth was the last important engagement in the 
North; thenceforward the British contented themselves with 
plundering expeditions, whose only result was to keep alive 
a keen sense of injury on the part of the Americans. The 
latter, on their side, performed one brilliant exploit, — the 
capture of a British stronghold. Stony Point, on the Hudson. 
The movement was carefully planned by Washington and 
splendidly executed by the Light Infantry of the Line under 
Anthony Wayne, one of the most dashing commanders of 
the war. 

155. Arnold's Treason, 1779-80. — Benedict Arnold, the 
hero of Quebec and Saratoga, was careless of money and 
given to lavish expenditure. Although the ablest leader 
of a division on the American side, his habits aroused the 
distrust of Congress, and other men of less ability and less 
experience were promoted over his head. Washington 
exerted all his influence in Arnold's favor, and as soon as 
a wound received at Saratoga permitted, he was given the 
command at Philadelphia. There he became acquainted 
with many persons who were hostile to the American 
cause, and misused his official position for purposes of 
private gain. He was tried, convicted, and sentenced 
to be reprimanded by Washington. In performing this 
unpleasant duty, the commander in chief said: "Our pro- 
fession is the chastest of all; even the shadow of a fault 
tarnishes the lustre of our finest achievements. ... I 
reprimand you for having forgotten that in proportion as 
you have rendered yourself formidable to our enemies, you 
should have been guarded and temperate in your deport- 
ment towards your fellow-citizens. Exhibit anew those 
noble qualities which have placed you on the list of our 
most valued commanders. I will myself furnish you . . . 
with opportunities of regaining the esteem of your coun- 



Wayne's 
assault on 
Stony Point 



Benedict 
Arnold. 
*Winsor's . 
A?nerica, 
VI, 447-468; 
Fiske's 
Revolution, 
II, ch. xiv. 



194 



hidepeiidence 



[§155 



Andr^ 

captured. 

1780. 



His trial. 
Chandler's 
Criyninat 
Trials, II, 
157-265 ; 
Wirsor's 
America. VI, 
467, 468. 



try." To enable him to do this, Washington appointed 
Arnold commander of West Point, the most important sta- 
tion of the Americans on the Hudson. 

Arnold already had been in correspondence with the 
British authorities, and probably he asked for this com- 
inand that he might have something of value to betray to 
his new employers. At all events, the negotiations went on 
apace until the cap- ^^^^/n^,^.- 

ture of John Andre, M^^ 

the British agent in 
the affair, disclosed 
all. Arnold escaped 
to New York and re- 
ceived his promised 
reward of office and 
money, although he 
had not performed 
his part of the nefa- 
rious bargain. After 
the close of the war, 
he lived in England, 
one of the most de- 
spised men in the 
world. 

Far more interesting is the discussion which has arisen 
over the execution of John Andr6. lo understand his 
career, the student should compare his motives and his 
actions with those of Nathan Hale, a noble American, 
whom the British hanged as a spy, or with those of two 
young foreigners, Alexander Hamilton and the Marquis de 
Lafayette. Andr^ was an agreeable young man who know- 
ingly placed himself in the position of a spy, and suffered 
the penalty of death without flinching, as hundreds of men 
have suffered before and since. There was nothing remark- 
able in his career; it was only by a bold stretch of the 
imagination that one could have held him worthy a place 
in Westminster Abbey, among the heroes of the English 




Lalayer.e 



1776] 



The Southern Campaigns 



195 



race; and nothing save the sickliest sentimentalism could 
have induced an American to erect a monument to his 
memory on American soil. After his capture, Andre's 
status was examined by a very competent Court of Inquiry, 
presided over by Nathanael Greene ; among its members 
were Steuben, a Prussian veteran, and Lafayette, a general 
officer in the French army. It is idle to contend that their 




Birinpiace of Nathan Hale 

finding was not sound. Andr^ passed the American lines 
in disguise, under an assumed name, with papers betraying 
military secrets concealed in his boots. He had a pass from 
Arnold, giving safe conduct to John Anderson ; the docu- 
ment was conceived in fraud, was used for a fraudulent 
purpose, and could not for a moment have protected 
Andr6 against Arnold's commanding officer. 

156. The Southern Campaigns, 1776-81. — The British The war in 
had early directed their attention to the conquest of the i_-6-82. 
South. In the winter of 1776, while the siege of Boston winsors 




TIIK 

REVOLUTIONARY WAR 

IN THE SOl'TH 



i78o] 



The Southern Campaigns 



197 



VI, 168-172, 
and ch. vi ; 
Fiske's 
Revolution, 
II, ch. xiii, 
and ch. xv 
to p. 268. 



was Still in progress, Sir Henry Clinton and Admiral Parker America, 
had led an expedition to the conquest of Charleston. Their 
ignominious faiUire and the conflict in the North had 
diverted the British from any further attempts in that direc- 
tion, until toward the close of 1778, by which time they 
seem to have become 
convinced that the South 
would offer less resist- 
ance to invasion than 
had been encountered 
in the North. In this 
opinion events showed 
that the British were 
right. The Southerners 
were able to make slight 
opposition to the well- 
equipped forces which 
captured Savannah in 
1778 and invaded South 
Carolina in 1779. In- 
deed, so hopeless did 
resistance at one time 
appear, that Governor 
Rutledge of South Caro- 
lina drew up a letter in 

which it was proposed that the latter state should remain 
neutral, leaving the contest to be decided by the other 
states. In 1780 Clinton again appeared before Charleston. 
On this occasion he captured that town, and the British, 
under Cornwallis, soon overran the greater part of South 
Carolina. At the same time, other expeditions from New 
York under Phillips and Arnold began the conquest of 
Virginia. Toward the end of 1780, Nathanael Greene as- 
sumed direction of the defense of the South : by a series 
of remarkable campaigns, he compelled the British to yield 
up the greater portion of the Carolinas and Georgia and 
to retire to Charleston and Savannah. These results were 




General Greene 



198 



Independence 



[§157 



Cornwallis 
in Virginia, 
1781. 
Winsor's 
America, 
VI, 496-5CX3; 
Fiske's 
Revolution, 
II, ifiZ-272. 



accomplished by Greene with a handful of trained soldiers 
of the Continental Line and large bodies of miUtia. The 
leading events of these campaigns in the southernmost 
colonies were Clinton's attack on Charleston (1776), the 
capture of Savannah Ci779)> ^^^ capture of Charleston 
(1780), Gates's defeat at Camden (1780), the battle of 
King's Mountain (1780), Morgan's remarkable defeat of 
Tarleton at the Cowpens (1781), the battle of Guilford 
Court House (1781), Hobkirk's Hill (1781), the siege of 
Ninety-six (1781), and the battle of Eutaw Springs (1781). 

157. The Yorktown Campaign, 1781. — After the battle 
of Guilford Court House, Lord Cornwallis appears to have 
come to the conclusion that the permanent conquest of the 
Carolinas was impossible as long as Virginia was in the 
hands of the Americans and able to send men and supplies 
to the Southern armies. He may also have regarded the con- 
tinuous occupation of the Carolinas as impracticable with 
the means at his disposal and may have marched north- 
ward to be within easier reach of reinforcements from New 
York. At all events, he marched northward to Virginia 
from Wilmington, whither he had repaired after his unavail- 
ing contest with Greene. In Virginia he found a small 
British force under Phillips and Arnold; the former died 
almost immediately, the latter he sent to New York. 
Lafayette was also in Virginia with a small but highly 
efficient body of men, one of the divisions of Light Infantry 
of the Continental Line. He had originally been ordered 
to that region in the hope of entrapping Arnold ; now, he 
and Cornwallis marched up and down Virginia until Corn- 
wallis went into quarters at Portsmouth for the summer; 
later, he removed his army to Yorktown, in obedience, as 
he supposed, to the orders of Clinton. 

Up to this time, the co-operation with France had pro- 
duced slight effect upon the contest beyond diverting the 
attention of the British from America, and securing the 
evacuation of Philadelphia. A French force under Rocham- 
beau had reached America in the summer of 1780, but 



1 781] Yorktown Campaign 199 

it had been neutralized by the necessity of remaining at Siege and 
Newport, the place of debarkation, to protect the vessels ^fP'"'^'^ °* 
which brought it over from a British fleet that had immedi- i^si. 
ately blockaded them. In the summer of 1781, De Grasse, Winsor's 
the commander of the French fleet in the West Indies, sent ^f^^'^'^- 

' V 1 , 500-507 ; 

word that he would sail northward during the hurricane Fiske's 
season and reach the Chesapeake in September; his stay Revolution, 
would be limited to a few weeks, and he hoped that ' ^73-290. 
something substantial might be accomplished; he refused 
to try to cross the bar off New York, and added that he 
would bring a division of the French army from the West 
Indies. Washington had long desired to capture New 
York, but De Grasse' s refusal to attempt the entrance of 
the harbor forbade that; on the other hand, Cornvvallis had 
placed himself in such a situation that his capture would 
be nearly certain with the overwhelming force at Washing- 
ton's disposal, should all go well. Everything worked for 
the American cause : Rodney, the British admiral in the 
West Indies, on bad terms with Clinton and interested in 
the plunder of St. Eustatius, instead of following De Grasse, 
sent a division of his fleet; the French army at Newport 
joined Washington at New York, and the march was so well 
managed that Clinton believed the threatened siege of 
New York to be actually begun, when in reality the allies 
were crossing the Delaware on their way southward. De 
Grasse reached the Chesapeake at the appointed time, 
fought an action with the British fleet which compelled the 
latter' s return to New York, and again entered the Chesa- 
peake, to find the French vessels which had escaped from 
Newport safely riding at anchor. Besieged by more than 
twice his own numbers, and cut off from succor from New- 
York, Cornwallis, after a gallant defense, surrendered on 
October 19, 1781. This royal disaster closed military 
operations on the continent. 

158. Naval Warfare. — An eminent writer has stated 
that as many Americans were engaged in fighting for their 
country's independence on the water as on the land. The 



20O 



Independence 



[§159 



The war on 

the water. 

Winsor's 

America, 

VI, ch. vii; 

Fiske's 

Revolution, 

II, ch. xii; 

Maclay's 

Navy, I, 

34-151- 



Difficulty in 

securing 

soldiers. 

Fiske's 

Revolution, 

I, 242-248 ; 

Critical 

Period, 10 1- 

103. 



authority for this statement is not altogether clear; but it 
is certain that the part played by American seamen in the 
conflict has been too little studied and appreciated by our 
historical writers. The navies of the separate states and 
of the United States performed many most important ser- 
vices in the cause of liberty; but where so much obscurity 
exists, it is difficult to mention the names of particular 
individuals without doing injustice to other less well-known 
but equally deserving sea fighters. Among those whose 
exploits are recorded with tolerable certainty are Manly, 
of the Massachusetts navy, Wickes, who first carried the 
national flag across the Atlantic, Paul Jones, who captured 
the British ship Serapis after a most gallant fight, Commo- 
dore Hopkins, and Commodore Tucker. More important 
than the achievements of these men of the regular navies, 
were those of the privateers, who pursued their hazardous 
calling with great success, and materially affected the rates 
of insurance on British merchant vessels. 

159. Congress and the Army, 1775-82. — From the out- 
set there was always great difficulty in securing the requisite 
number of soldiers and in keeping up a disciplined force : 
the people were usually ready to turn out for a few weeks 
at a time; but enlistments for a term of years were hard to 
obtain, and the new recruits were undisciplined and not to 
be relied upon in action. One army had been disbanded 
and another formed while the siege of Boston was in prog- 
ress. Washington was most inadequately supplied with 
soldiers during the campaign of 1776; but in the closing 
months of that year Congress reluctantly authorized the 
formation of a permanent force, — the Continental Line. 
It most unwisely left the recruiting of the soldiers, and 
even the appointment of the regimental officers, to the 
several states. The inevitable result was that the quotas 
of some states were never filled, and many of the officers 
were most inefficient, — were not "fit to be shoeblacks," 
to use Washington's own words. Once organized and 
drilled, the soldiers of the Line became a splendid force, 



1782] 



Congress and the Army 



201 



In other countries," he wrote at 




yiUld Dollar ortJicYiUiW <^ 
Ihtreafin GoldofSilver -5 
/o^gi-wniupxcliaiige Bt >^ 
TreasuTy«€T/«<;/3'/^, ^S\ 
P-a-suanf to ACT (if fS . 

.>k^>t»«^ '777 ;^ 



cv- 



^^ 



'^Twl R o;iNJA Cr FvB ETN CX<^ 



Virginia currency 



able to encounter successfully their own number of the 
veterans of Great Britain or of Germany. Then began an 
arduous struggle to see that justice was done to them. 

The people entertained an unreasonable jealousy of Dislike of a 
a permanent military force, and the feeling found full regular army, 
representation in Congress. Washington protested against 
it with all the arguments suggested to him by the necessi- 
ties of the situation. ' 
one time, " the prejudice 
against standing armies 
exists only in time of 
peace, and this because 
the troops are a distinct 
body from its citizens 
... it is our policy to 
be prejudiced against 
them in time of war, 
though they are citi- 
zens." The soldiers suf- 
fered every hardship, were half-starved for long periods Hardships ol 
of time, were ill provided with clothing, and were the soldiers, 
always inadequately paid, sometimes not paid at all 
for months. The officers' expenses constantly exceeded 
their incomes, and their families at home were left in 
great destitution. At one time they threatened to resign 
in a body, at another the soldiers broke out into open 
mutiny. Washington exerted his influence to the utmost 
and secured from Congress a bounty for the soldiers in the 
shape of grants of land, and for the ofificers half pay for 
life to those who should serve until the close of the war. 
But the first Congress under the Articles of Confederation 
annulled these votes upon the unworthy pretext that nine 
states had not assented to the vote, as the Articles de- 
manded, but only a majority, as had been sufificient under 
the rules of the Old Congress. The officers then offered to 
compromise for full pay for seven years. As the conclusion 
of the war drew near, the anxieties of the soldiers increased; 



202 Independence [§ i6o 

for they knew that when once disbanded they would be in 

no position to enforce their reasonable demands. 

Proposition i6o. The Nswburg Addresses, 1783. — In this condition 

to make ^f uncertainty, the soldiers turned to Washington, and some 

^^^as ling on ^^ ^^^ xi\oxt unstable among them talked of making him 

stedman and king. This proposition was actually Suggested to him; he 

Hutchinson, gp^f^gfj \^ j^ a manner which has separated him from all 

other successful leaders in civil strife since the days of the 

Roman republic. "No occurrence," he said, "in the 

course of the war has given me more painful sensations 

than your information of there being such ideas existing 

in the army, as you have expressed, and I must view with 

abhorrence and reprehend with severity." 

Newburg The ofificers' and soldiers' pay was now years in arrears; 

Addresses, jj^ March, 178^, the matter came to a head. While 

1783. "^ 

Fiske's Oiti- the army was encamped at Newburg on the Hudson, an 

cai Period, address was published anonymously, calling a meeting of 

officers to consider the best means to press their claims on 

the attention of Congress. It was written in inflammatory 

language, advising, among other things, that the army 

should not disband on the conclusion of peace unless their 

grievances were in the meantime redressed. Fortunately, 

Washington was at hand. With his customary tact, he 

summoned a meeting himself. Addressing the assembled 

officers in the most sympathetic language, he procured the 

abandonment of the proposed mode of action, and then he 

used his influence to the utmost to secure justice for those 

who so fully trusted him. This he was able to do with 

the greater effect, because he himself had steadfastly refused 

to receive any remuneration for his services beyond the 

payment of his necessary expenses. ,. Congress voted full 

pay for five years in such obligations of the government as 

other creditors received; how much this really amounted 

to is not known. The hardships of the soldiers and the 

insufficiency of the means placed in Washington's hands 

for carrying on the conflict, were due in great measure to 

the poverty of Congress. 



100-112. 



1782] 



Finances of th£ Revolution 



203 



161. Finances of the Revolution. — At the beginning of 
the conflict, when enthusiasm was at its highest, the Con- 
tinental Congress had not asserted the right to levy taxes : 
it simply called upon the several colonies and later states 
to pay their proportions of the general expenses. This 
the states as a whole had never done. Congress necessarily 
had recourse to the plan of issuing paper money, to be re- 
deemed by the states, — which never did redeem it. Other 



Financial 

affairs. 

Winsor's 

America, 

Vil, 69-72 ; 

Sumner's 

Robert 

Morris. 




qpH IS BI L L entitles the Bearer to i) 

A xfcewe ^T'^VR ''J\I-'9'^]P ,S'7j?;/.0f 7,>,P^') 'j 

0) 



^ JiJi<2A <;ii S, or the Value thereof 
in ^/^d or Si^er^ according to the Refo- 
Wions of the G0'J^'C'-Ji.6S6-', held at 
f *3''^aMfiitf ihe 1 othpf^ ^aj, 1 775. 



Continental currency 



vJ^S 



means of raising money were lotteries and loans, both of 
which brought in something, though much less than was 
urgently needed. Ultimately, Congress adopted the expedi- 
ent of paying for supplies in loan-office certificates which 
bore interest, and in requiring the states to furnish specific 
supplies, since they would not pay money. The funds 
which really made it possible to continue the struggle after 
1777 were obtained fr^m foreign governments, mainly from 
France, and from individual capitalists in Holland. 

It is easy for the historical writer of the present day to Criticisms on 
condemn the Continental Congress for not seizing the tax- *'|^ conduct 

.... , . . . , . . of Congress. 

ing power at the beginning and for issumg large quantities 
of practically irredeemable paper money. It should be 
remembered, however, that the leaders of Congress in 1775 



204 



Indepetidence 



[§ 162 



The Tories. 
'Winsor's 
Atnerica, 
VII. 185-214. 



and 1776 were among the most skillful statesmen the coun- 
try has ever had ; they were much better able to judge of 
the temper of the people than is the student of the present 
day, and they had to reckon with a powerful opposition 
in nearly every state. Moreover, the rapidly depreciating 
paper currency was really a species of tax ; it was probably 
the only form of general taxation the people would have 
endured. 

162. The Loyalists. — The Continental Congress and 
the several state legislatures were unable to adopt more 
energetic measures, owing, in part at least, to the fact that 
large portions of the people were either opposed to the 
contest with Great Britain or were half-hearted in its prose- 
cution. The people may be considered as divided into 
three portions : the radicals, who supported the movement 
enthusiastically ; and the conservatives, who opposed it as 
much as they could; between these two extremes was the 
great mass of the population, who cared little which way 
the matter went provided they were left in peace. As 
is always the case, at times of disturbance, the radicals, 
being the most aggressive, possessed a power and attracted 
attention out of all proportion to their numerical impor- 
tance. It is of course impossible to state the numbers of 
these sections respectively or to give an accurate idea of 
the proportion each bore to the whole. Some very com- 
petent students believe that the radicals were in a minority: 
it is certain that in some parts of the country the conserva- 
tive element was at least equal in point of number to the 
radical section and was fully as aggressive; this was the 
case in South Carolina, in Pennsylvania, in New York, 
and in portions of Massachusetts. Many loyalists fought 
actively on the king's side; they formed regiments, as 
Ferguson's Riflemen, who were destroyed at King's Moun- 
tain, and the Queen's Rangers, who accompanied Arnold 
to Virginia. The most celebrated of these warlike loyal- 
ists was Benjamin Thompson, a native of Massachusetts; 
after the war he went to Europe, became one of the most 



1782] 



Peace Negotiations 



205 



important scientific men of the early part of the nineteenth 
century, and received the title of Count Rumford from the 
king of Bavaria; in his declining years, he remembered 
his native country, and founded several prizes and one pro- 
fessorship for the promotion of scientific objects. The 
active loyalists were regarded with hatred by the Revolu- 
tionary leaders : Washington stigmatized them as "detest- 
able parricides," and words were insufficient to exhibit 
Franklin's detestation of these devoted adherents of the 
British monarch. On the other hand, a great deal of the 
bitterness displayed by the loyalists was the direct result of 
the severity with which they were treated by the radicals. 
Of late years, there has been a disposition to regard their 
loyalty with more leniency. Some students even regret 
the harsh measures which drove them from the country, and 
wish that they might have been treated as were the South- 
erners at the close of the Civil War; they point out that 
their exile deprived the country of many men of education, 
and are inclined to think that some of the evils which beset 
the nation in the course of the next few years were owing 
to the loss of this conservative element in its population. 
163. Peace Negotiations of 1782. — The disaster at York- 
town not merely brought hostilities in America to a sudden 
close, it also put an abrupt termination to the king's system 
of government in Great Britain. Lord North, who had 
long been anxious to leave office and had remained only 
from a misplaced feeling of loyalty to his royal master, 
now resigned and the king was obliged to summon Rock- 
ingham and the other leaders of the opposition and place 
the government in their hands. The two secretaries of 
state in the new ministry were Charles James Fox and the 
Earl of Shelburne. They were the real leaders of the gov- 
ernment, and were not on good terms. Fox hated and 
distrusted Shelburne, and there was some ground for his 
dislike; the latter, indeed, was regarded by men of that 
time as a trickster. At all events, Shelburne seems to have 
been sincerely desirous of peace with America. He opened 



The patriot 
leaders and 
the loyahsts. 



Fall of 

the North 

Ministry, 

1782. 

Fiske's 

Critical 

Period, 1-45; 

Stedman and 

Hutchinson, 

111,68. 




Benjamin FrankMn 
At the age of sixty, after a painting by Martin 



30tf 



1782] 



Peace Negotiations 



207 



communications with Dr. Franklin, whom he had known 
well during the latter's residence in England before the 
war. This, coming to the ears of Fox, confirmed his 
suspicions of Shelburne's fidelity and he seized the oppor- 
tunity afforded by Rockingham's death to resign with his 
friends; then Shelburne became the head of a reconstructed 
ministry. Congress had appointed five commissioners to 
negotiate a treaty of peace. Their instructions required 
them to proceed in conjunction with the French govern- 
ment. The commissioners appointed were Dr. Franklin, 
then minister to France; John Jay, minister to Spain; 
John Adams, who had ofificial business in Holland; Henry 
Laurens and Thomas Jefferson. The last did not cross the 
ocean and Laurens was captured on the voyage and was 
a prisoner in the Tower of London during the period of 
important negotiations. The first communications were 
with Dr. Franklin, who was soon joined by Jay. The 
former had lived long in France, had been regarded as one 
of the "lions" of the day, and had a firm faith in the 
honesty and good will of the French government. Jay's 
experience in Spain had led him to beheve that the Bourbon 
powers (France and Spain) were using the American war to 
further their own interests, especially those of Spain. Jay 
thought that he had sufficient evidence to justify the con- 
clusion that these governments were opposed to the extension 
of the United States beyond the AUeghanies and preferred 
to have the British retain the territory between the Ohio, 
the Great Lakes, and the Mississippi, to having it handed 
over to the new republic. He also thought that France 
was opposed to having the Americans share in the rights to 
the fisheries under the Treaty of Utrecht, and that Spain was 
similarly opposed to giving them a share in the free navi- 
gation of the Mississippi, secured to England in the treaty 
of 1763. Historical students are divided as to the sound- 
ness of Jay's conclusions; the best opinion, however, in- 
clines to the belief that he was right. John Adams, when 
he reached Paris, agreed with Jay; the commissioners 



Propositions 
for peace, 
1782. 
Winsor's 
America, 
VII, 96-106. 



Jay's 

suspicions 
of France 
and Spain. 
*Winsor's 
America, 
VII, 107-136 



208 



Independence 



[§164 



The 

Preliminary 

Articles, 

1782. 

Winsor's 

America, 

VII, 137-145- 



The 

Definitive 
Treaty, 1783. 
Winsor's 
America, 
VII. 163-165; 
MacDonald's 
Documents, 
No. 3. 

Boundaries. 



broke their instructions and negotiated directly with Great 
Britain, without the knowledge of France. Seldom in the 
history of diplomacy have negotiations begun in doubtful 
circumstances been crowned with greater success; the Eng- 
lish historian, W. E. H. Lecky, noting this, wrote : " It is 
impossible not to be struck with the skill, hardihood, and 
good fortune that marked the American negotiations." 

The " Preliminary Articles " which should form a treaty 
when a general peace should be made between Great Britain 
and the United States were signed on November 30, 1782. 
Dr. Franklin communicated them to the French govern- 
ment with so many soothing assurances, that France 
acquiesced in them. September 3, 1783, the Definitive 
Treaty was signed at Paris on the same day that treaties 
between Great Britain and France and between Great Britain 
and Spain were signed at Versailles; in this manner, the 
terms of the alliance with France were technically com- 
plied with, but hostilities had already ceased in the pre- 
ceding April between the British and the Americans. It 
is necessary to examine in detail the treaty between the 
United States and Great Britain, as on its provisions de- 
pended in great measure the relations between those powers 
for many years. 

164. The Treaty of Peace, 1783. — The boundaries of the 
new nation were to be those of the English colonies accord- 
ing to the treaty of 1763 and the king's Proclamation of 
that year (p. 117). Thus the Mississippi to the thirty-first 
parallel was to be the western boundary. The southern 
boundary was the northern boundary of the Floridas ac- 
cording to the Proclamation, — the thirty-first parallel, 
from the Mississippi to the Chattahoochee, then down that 
river to its junction with the Flint, thence in a straight line 
to the source of the St. Mary's, and thence to the sea. This 
was the line contained in both the Preliminary Articles 
and the Definitive Treaty. A separate and secret article, 
appended to the former, provided that in case Great 
Britain should win back the Floridas from Spain, which 




No. III. The Negotiations of 1782 
From Fitzmaurice's Life of Shelburne 



1783] 



Treaty of Peace 



209 



had overrun them, the southern boundary of the United 
States between the Mississippi and Chattahoochee rivers 
should be the parallel of thirty-two degrees and thirty 
minutes. This had been the northern boundary of West 
Florida in the commissions of the governors of that terri- 
tory. It is important to note this because Great Britain, 




The United States, 1783 

as a part of the general settlement of 1783, ceded to Spain 
"the Floridas " without any statement of boundary. Spain 
argued that this gave her West Florida as it had been gov- 
erned for twenty years; the United States contended that 
the thirty-first parallel was the southern boundary of the 
United States designated in the treaty of 1783 and thus 
limited Florida on the north. The matter was finally 
arranged to the satisfaction of the United States in 1795 
(p. 280), but only after long and harassing disputes. The 
treaty of 1783 also provided that the navigation of the 
Mississippi River, which was then supposed to rise north 



210 



Independence 



[§164 



of the Great Lakes, should be free to both parties. This 
right had been guaranteed to Great Britain in 1763. Spain, 
however, tried to evade the carrying out of its obligations, 
and this too led to much irritation (p. 229). 

The northern boundary of the United States, as far west 
as the St. Lawrence, was the southern boundary of Canada, 
according to the Proclamation of 1763 (p. 117). From 
the point where the forty-fifth parallel reached the St. Law- 
rence, it followed the channel of that river, the Great Lakes, 
and connecting waters to the northwest corner of the Lake 
of the Woods, and thence due west to the source of the 
Mississippi. The settlement of this line gave rise to in- 
numerable disputes, which were not finally set at rest until 
1842 (p. 412). 
f he loyalists. The British government had been solicitous that the 
United States should make some provision for the loyalists. 
This was a matter on which Franklin, at all events, held 
very decided opinions, — nor were the other commissioners 
willing to accede to such a proposition. They consented, 
however, to the insertion of a meaningless provision that 
Congress would "recommend " the states to pass relief acts. 
The recommendation was made in due course and was 
entirely unheeded; not only unheeded, but some states 
actually increased the severity of their measures against the 
loyalists. Parliament, however, made fairly liberal provi- 
sion for their maintenance. 

Another subject, and one which gave rise to many dis- 
putes later on, was what should be done as to debts owed 
by individuals to British creditors at the beginning of the 
conflict. It was finally decided that these debts should be 
payable at the close of the war. There was no way of 
enforcing these obligations until the formation of the gov- 
ernment under the Constitution (1789) ; the non-observance 
of the treaty in this respect gave rise to much trouble 
(p. 277). 

Still another difficult point was the question of the 
fisheries. Of course any one had the right to sail to the 



Debts. 



The fisheries. 



1783] 



Problems of Peace 



211 



banks of Newfoundland and there hsh out of sight of land 
and far away from the limit of jurisdiction recognized by 
international practice. To make this fishing really valu- 
able, as it was then carried on, it was necessary to have the 
right to do certain things within the limit of jurisdiction, 
— to secure bait, for instance, or to dry the fish on the 
unsettled coasts. These rights had been shared between 
the subjects of Great Britain and France according to the 
provisions of the Peace of Utrecht, and also of the later 
treaty of 1 763. The Americans, feeling that the new settle- 
ment was in the nature of a division of the Empire, thought 
that the fisheries should be shared between the /\merican 
and the British tishermen, as they had been shared between 
the subjects of King George living in America and in 
Britain before the war. This was certainly a great conces- 
sion for Great Britain to make, but after considerable 
controversy it was finally included in the treaty. 

165. Problems of Peace. — The United States were now 
independent, but the problems which confronted the Ameri- 
can people were no less arduous of solution than the securing 
of their independence had been. The stress of war had failed 
to unite them into one nation; would the time of peace be 
any more fortunate? In a circular letter to the state gov- 
ernor'= (June, 1783) Washington referred to these fears in 
langiage which showed him to be not merely a military 
leader but a statesman as well. A few sentences from this 
letter, which should be read by every student, will be a 
fitting close to this chapter. "It is yet to be decided," he 
wrote, "whether the revolution must ultimately be con- 
sidered as a blessing or a curse. 

"... This is the moment to establish or ruin their 
[the American people's] national character for ever. . . . 
There should be lodged somewhere a supreme power to 
regulate and govern the general concerns of the Confed- 
erated republic, without which the Union cannot be of 
long duration." 



Wash- 
ington's 
letter to the 
governors. 
Fiske's Criti' 
cal Period, 

S3: Old 

South 

Leaflets, Gen. 
Ser. No. 15. 



2 1 2 Independence 

SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS AND TOPICS 

Bring to class a topical analysis of the history of England and of 
France, 1775-83. 

§§ 140-144. The Beginning of the Contest, 1775-76 

a. Compare the strength of the combatants as to (i) material and 
moral resources, (2) unanimity of opinion, (3) naval and military dis- 
cipline, (4) physical condition of theater of war. 

b. In view of the nature of the theater of war, what military policy 
would commend itself to the Americans ? to the British ? Give exam- 
ples of the defective strategy of the British. 

§§ 145-148. Independence 

a. What does the election of Jefferson to the Second Continental 
Congress prove? Give your reasons. 

b. Why does the formation of the state constitutions mark an epoch 
in the history of the world ? 

c. Compare the first constitution of Virginia with the present consti- 
tution of your state. 

d. Read the first and the last paragraphs of the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence. Did those who voted for that Declaration have in mind the 
formation of one nation or of thirteen nations ? 

e. Why has the Declaration been called the political Bible of 
America ? 

§§ 149-152, 155-159. Military Affairs 

a. Describe the British plan of campaign and American resistance 
in 1776, in 1777, in 1778, in 1779, in 1780, and in 1781, noting in each 
case the strength of the opposing armies, physical condition of theater 
of war, results of campaigns, and qualities shown by opposing com- 
manders. 

b. State the importance of each of the following events : the Sara- 
toga Convention, the Conway Cabal, the execution of Andre. 

c. Sketch Greene's Southern campaigns, noting especially the part 
played by the Southern militia. 

d. Represent upon an Outline Map the important military move- 
ments in the South from November, 1780, to November, 1781. 

§§ 152, 153. The French Alliance 

a. What matter in this chapter must you enter in your note-book 
under heading, " Important Treaties " ? 



Questions and Topics 213 

b. Compare the services to the cause of independence of Washing- 
ton and of Franklin. 

c. Were Lord North's conciliatory proposals a total surrender of 
Great Britain's colonial system ? Give your reasons. 

§§ 160-162. Internal Affairs 

a. Give historical grounds for the aversion of the Americans to a 
permanent army. 

b. Place as heading in note-book, " Financial History," and enter 
under it all fitting matter as you proceed. 

c. Can you suggest any moral objection to the position of the Ameri- 
can loyalists ? How do you justify Washington's and Franklin's atti- 
tude toward the loyalists ? 

§§ 163-165. Peace 

a. Discuss the treatment of France by the United States at the time 
of the peace negotiations. 

b. Look up Jay's previous training and character and weigh care- 
fully the value of his conclusions as opposed to those of Franklin. 

c. What claim upon the United States had the loyalists ? 

d. Washington's Circular Letter to the Slate Governors. What cir- 
cumstances favorable to the political happiness of the American people 
does Washington enumerate ? What four essentials to the existence 
of the United States as an independent power does he state ? Quote 
his words which show his views about centralization of power, the right 
of secession, the full discharge of the national debt, pensions. What 
other later issues in the history of the United States are touched in this 
letter ? 

Historical Geogr.a.phy 

a. Represent in colors upon an Outline Map the boundary provi- 
sions of the treaty of 1783, using your Map of 1763 as a basis; put also 
upon it in dotted line the possible boundary indicated by the "secret 
article" of 1782. What different boundary disputes arose over the 
provisions of this treaty ? When and how settled ? Mark the final 
boundaries under these agreements on this map. 

b. Make any necessary changes on your maps of Territorial Posses- 
sions and on the map of your state. 

General Questions 

a. Carefully define the following words : state, nation, federation, 
confederation. 



214 Independence 

h. Compare the American Revolution with the Puritan Rebellion, 
with the Revolution of 1688-89, with the Prench Revolution, and with 
the Civil War. 

Topics for Investigation by Individual Students 
(See note under this head on p. 48.) 

a. The battle of Trenton (with a plan), Guide, 298. 

b. The battle of Bennington (with a plan), Guide, 299. 

c. The Monmouth campaign (with a plan), Gtiide, 299. 

d. Was Andre a spy ? Guide, 300. 

e. The battle of the Cowpens (with a plan). Guide, 302. 

f. The Conway Cabal (189, first group). 

g. Naval warfare of the Revolution, § 158. 



CHAPTER VI 

THE CONSTITUTION, 1 783-1 789 
Books for Consultation 

General Readings. — Johnston's American FoHlics,T,-i?>', Walker's 
Making of the Amotion, 1-73; *Frothingliam's Rise of the Republic, 
569—610; Fiske's Civil Governinefit, 186-267. 

Special Accounts. — *'^insox's America,Nll; *Von Hoist's Con- 
stitutional History, I; Lodge's Washington, II; Schouler's United 
States; *McMaster's People of the United States, I; Fiske's Critical 
Period. 

Sources. — Biographies and writings of Washington, Madison, 
Hamilton, Jay, Franklin, J. Adams, Gouverneur Morris, Rufus King, 
Mason, Henry, R. H. Lee, Gerry, for titles see Guide, §§ 25, 32, 33; 
Journals of Congress; Journal of the Conventio7t ; Madison's N'otes ; 
Elliot's Debates ; American Pfisto?y Leaflets ; Old South Leaflets. 

Maps. — Hinsdale's Old Northivest, Nos. vi-ix; Winsor's America, 
VII, App. I. 

Bibliography. — Channing and Hart, Guide to .American History, 
§§ 56 a, 56 b (General Readings), §§ 142, 149-156 (Topics and Refer- 
ences). 

Illustrative Material. — Landon's Constitutional History ; *'Y-wcV- 
Gx's History of the United States ; G&y' s ALadison ; Morse's Franklitt ; 
*G. T. Curtis's History of the Cotistitution, or his Constitutional His- 
tory ; *^z.ncKo{\.'s History of the Constitution ox h\s U'nited States (ISiSt 
revision), VI ; *Story's Commentaries ; *Thayer's Cases on Constitu- 
tional Law ; Hamilton's Federalist ; R. H. Lee's Letters of a Federalist 
Farmer; Scharfs Maryland; Cutler's Ordinance of lySj ; Dunn's 
Lndiana ; Hinsdale's Old Northwest ; Roosevelt's Wintiing of the 
West, HI; Sumner's Finances of the Revolution ; Pomeroy's Constitu- 
tional Law; Hinsdale's American Govertiinent ; *Fiske's American 
Political Ldeas, ch. ii; Americati History told by Contemporaries. 

THE CONSTITUTION, 1 783-1789 

166. Nationalism and Particularism. — At the beginning 
of the Revolution it seemed as if public opinion were favor- 

215 



2l6 



The Constitution 



[§167 



Feeling of 
nationality, 
1774-76. 
Hart's Co7i- 
temporaries, 
li. No. 153. 



Tendency 
toward 
particu- 
larism. 



Franklin's 

plan. 

American 

History 

Leaflets, 

No. ao. 



able to the formation of a national government. On the 
first day of the meeting of the Continental Congress, Patrick 
Henry asserted that the colonial governments were destroyed, 
and asked, " Where are your landmarks, your boundaries of 
colonies ? " According to him, " The distinctions between 
Virginians, Pennsylvanians, New Yorkers, and New Eng- 
landers are no more ; I am not a Virginian, but an Ameri- 
can." The question of the mode of voting in Congress 
was then under discussion, and Henry proposed that the 
freemen of the several colonies should be represented 
according to numbers. As there was then no means of 
ascertaining the population of the several colonies, this 
proposition could not be accepted and Congress decided 
that each colony should have one vote, on the ground that 
Congress could not then determine the importance of each 
colony. For some time, certainly until the end of 1776, 
the Continental Congress occupied the most commanding 
position of any governmental body in America : the people 
of the several states asked its advice as to the regulation 
of their affairs and followed its recommendations (p. 177). 
Before long, however. Congress lost much of its authority, 
and the state governments, once formed, rapidly gained the 
respect of the people. This change of sentiment was 
partly due to the fact that the state legislatures soon ac- 
quired the right to appoint the delegates of the state in 
Congress ; but it was due more especially to the fact that the 
local legislatures were more under the control of the people 
than was Congress. It was in these circumstances that the 
Articles of Confederation were drawn up and sent to the 
states for ratification. 

167. Formation of the Articles of Confederation. — The 
earliest draft of a plan for a federal union was made by 
Franklin, and was read in Congress on July 21, 1775. In 
June, 1776, Richard Henry Lee of Virginia coupled with 
the resolution of independence another for the formation 
of Articles of Confederation (p. 181). It is possible that 
the expectation was that the declaration and the frame of 



»777] 



TJie Articles of Confederation 



217 



government wOuld form one instrument, as was later the 
case in Virginia. A " grand committee," consisting of one 
member from each colony, was appointed to devise a plan 
of union 3 it reported through its chairman, John Dickinson, 
in the middle of July, and its report is hence known as 
Dickinson's draft. The matter was discussed at intervals 
until November, 1777, when the Articles were adopted 
and sent to the states. They vary in form and language 
from Dickinson's 
draft, but resemble 
it very closely in all 
essential features. It 
will be well, perhaps, 
to note a iQ.\v of the 
differences between 
Franklin's draft and 
ihe report of the 
committee. Franklin 
provided for the 
regulation of " gen- 
eral commerce " by 
the Congress ; this 
was confided to the 
states in Dickinson's 
draft, except in so 
far as commerce was 
affected by treaties 
entered into by Con- 

.gress. In Franklin's scheme representation in Congress was 
to be distributed among the states in proportion to their popu- 
lation, and each delegate was to have one vote ; in the com- 
mittee's report a state might send as many delegates as it 
chose between two and seven, but each state should have 
only one vote. Franklin provided for amendments by vote 
of a majority of the state assemblies ; Dickinson required 
the consent of all the state legislatures to any change, and 
thereby made change impossible. 




John Dickinson 



Articles of 
Confedera- 
tion, adopted 
1777. 
Fiske's 
Critical Pe- 
riod, 90-101; 
*Froth- 
ingham's 
Republic, 

561-572- 
American 
History 
Leaflets, 
No. 20 ; 
Old South 
Leaflets, 
Gen. Ser. 
No. 2. 



2l8 



The Constittition 



[§ i68 



The Articles 
of Confeder- 
ation, and 
other plans 
of federal 
Union. 
American 
History 
Leaflets, 
Nos. 7, 8, 14, 
20. 



The Articles 
compared 
with the 
Union of 
England and 
Scotland. 



Analysis of 
the Articles. 
Portions to 
be memo- 
rized. Guide, 
U7i- 



168. The Articles of Confederation. — The best, in fact 
the only, way to understand the new arrangement for gov- 
ernment, and to comprehend its place in the history of the 
United States, is to study with care the document itself and 
to compare it with the Articles of Confederation of the 
New England colonies (p. 80) and with the Albany Plan 
of Union (p. 119) on the one side, and with the Constitu- 
tion (p. 237) on the other. It is also very helpful, but 
more difficult, to study it in connection with the govern- 
mental arrangements of Great Britain after 1603, and before 
the Act of Union of 1707, and with the actual constitution 
of the kingdom after that time. During the first of these 
periods England and Scotland had the sarne king ; each 
kingdom, however, had its own legislative body and its own 
system of laws ; the Act of Union brought about a change in 
this latter regard, the two kingdoms henceforth having one 
legislative body and one system of laws. In the former time, 
for instance, the colonies, by the navigation acts, could no 
more trade with Scotland than they could with France ; in 
the latter time, Scotland and England were regarded as one 
country as far as colonial trade was concerned. The first 
form of union is known as a personal union ; the latter is 
usually termed a legislative union. Before the Revolution 
the colonies had denied that there was a legislative union 
between the several colonies and the home state. They 
maintained that the Union was merely a personal union 
through the king, to whom all owed allegiance. In their 
endeavor to find some means of replacing the discarded 
authority of Britain, they constructed a government which 
should have the power which they had contended belonged 
to the British government, and no more. Under the Con- 
federation each state possessed its own legislative body and 
its own system of laws; Congress took the place of the 
British king and exercised very nearly the same authority 
that the colonists had contended belonged to that monarch. 
For instance. Congress could make war and conclude peace, 
and maintain an army and navy, but it could not tax the 



1 77 7 J Claims to Western Lands 219 

people of the several states, and had no power to compel 
obedience in a state or an individual. It turned out to be 
utterly impossible to carr)- on the central government under 
this system. 

169. Importance of the Articles of Confederation. — The Gravity of 
Articles are contemptible as a scheme of government ; but *'^^ crisis, 
the fact of their adoption was one of the half-dozen most *Froth-* 
important events in the history of the United States. The ingham's 
people of the thirteen states, who were struggHng together ^^P^''"'^> 
for independence, might have formed one government or 
thirteen governments, or any number of governments between 

one and thirteen, as they saw fit ; that they preferred to 
live bound together by even the loosest tie, showed a spirit 
of nationalism which was certain to lead to better results. 
Before condemning the men of 1776 for drawing up such 
an absurd scheme, it is well to remember that they had no 
experience to guide them : never before had a confederation 
of the size of the United States even been proposed ; never 
before had any one tried to write out on paper a consti- 
tution for such a federation. The adoption of the Articles 
terminated one of the most serious crises in the history of 
the United States. The gravity of the occasion may easily be 
gathered from the fact that it was nearly four years ere the 
legislatures of the thirteen states gave their consent to the 
new form of government. The principal reason for this delay 
was the dispute which had arisen as to the disposal of the 
land between the Alleghanies and the Mississippi. 

170. Claims to Western Lands. — ^In 1763 the king had Claims to 
forbidden the governors of the colonies on the seashore ^'^stem 

1 11 r 1 « 11 1 • T lands. 

to grant to settlers any lands west of the Alleghanies. In piske's Criti- 
1774 Parliament had annexed all of this western territory cai Period, 
north of the Ohio River to the province of Quebec (p. 161). ^^~'^'^^} 
In 1776, when the colonies declared themselves to be inde- America, 
pendent states, they set up their old claims to western lands Vli> ^PP- >• 
regardless of king or Parliament. 

Under her old charter of 1629 Massachusetts claimed all 
lands west of the settled portions of New York, between the 



220 



The Constitution 



[§ 170 



Claims of 
the states. 



Clark's 
western 
campaign, 
1778-79. 
Winsor's 
America, 
VI, 716; 
Roosevelt's 
Winning' of 
the West, 
II, chs. i-iii; 
Old South. 
Leaflets, XI, 
Ser. No. 5. 



parallels of points three miles north of the source of the 
Merrimac and three miles south of the source of the Charles. 
Connecticut based her claim on the charter of 1662, which 
had never been formally annulled. This gave her, she con- 
tended, a clear title to all lands south of the Massachusetts 
line as far as the latitude of New York City. The state of 
New York had no claim under any charter, but the Iroquois 
had given a deed of cession of all their lands to the governor 

of New York as rep- 
resentative of the 
king. This included 
all the western land 
north of the Ten- 
nessee River, as the 
Iroquois had pre- 
tended to exercise 
authority over the 
Indians living in 
this vast region. It 
was now urged that 
this cession had 
been made to the 
governor of the col- 
ony of New York, 
and that the state 
of that name suc- 
ceeded to the rights 
which the Iroquois 
had once possessed. 
Virginia, on her 
part, claimed nearly the same land, under the charter of 
1609, which had been annulled in 1624 (pp. 54, 57). She 
also contended that her soldiers, led by a Virginia officer, 
George Rogers Clark, and paid out of the Virginia treasury, 
had conquered this territory from the British (1778-79). 
Already colonists from Virginia had begun the occupation 
of the region now included in the state of Kentucky. The 




General G- R. Clark 



1777] 



Claims to Western Lands 



221 



Carolinians claimed lands south of the Virginia line and 
north of the parallel of the Savannah River, under the 
charters of 1663 and 1665 as modified by the Georgia grant claims of 
of 1732 (pp. no, 117). Georgia claimed land under the Georgia. 




Claims and Cessions 

charter of 1732, which had been limited in point of time 
and had been surrendered to the crown in 1751. She 
further contended that the Proclamation of 1763, which 
added to her domains the land lying between the Altamaha 
and St. Mary's rivers (p. 117), really gave her a title to all 
the land south of her charter limits and north of the Floridas 
— as far west as the Mississippi River 1 



222 



TJie Consntution 



[§ 172 



Value of 
•hese claims. 



Position of 
the other 
states. 



Articles 
ratified by 
several 
states. 



Maryland 
refuses to 
ratify. 



171. Value of these Claims. — It is impossible to say any- 
thing definite as to tlie value of these claims. It is probable 
that the claim of Connecticut and that of Massachusetts, as 
far as they rested upon the charter of 169 1, would have been 
recognized as good in law. None of the other claims ap- 
pears to have much weight ; that of Virginia, by conquest, 
was the strongest. But the right of any one state to claim 
lands conquered by her troops while engaged in the Revolu- 
tionary War could not be defended on grounds of good 
morals, especially as Virginia had seldom fulfilled her mih- 
tary and financial duties to the United States. 

The other states — New Hampshire, Rhode Island, New 
Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland — could 
advance no claims to western lands by grant from the king, 
by conquest from the British, or by cession from the Indians. 
They contended, however, that if this territory should come 
into the possession of the United States at the conclusion 
of peace with Great Britain, it should be used for the bene- 
fit of the people of all the United States, and not for the 
enrichment of the people of a few states. 

172. The Land Cessions. — The Articles of Confedera- 
tion were very favorable to the interests of the smaller 
states : Delaware, New Jersey, and Rhode Island might 
justly think that they would gain more benefit under the 
Articles than they could hope for from the sale of their 
share of western lands. Pennsylvania, also, was not much 
interested in the question, as she still held thousands of 
acres of unsettled land within her borders. The case of 
Marj'land, however, was very different : her soldiers had 
played a gallant part in the defense of the country, al- 
though British armies scarcely touched her soil; but she 
had no means, save taxation, to pay them for their services. 
Virginia had already set on foot a scheme to reward her 
soldiers by grants of western lands, and Pennsylvania might 
easily do the same from the lands within her borders. 
Maryland had no such resource ; she might well ask if she 
were being treated with justice. She refused to ratify the 



1784] 



The Land Cessions 



223 



Cessions by 
the states. 
*Winsor's 
America, 
VII, app. i. 



Articles until this great wrong was redressed, and thus 
brought the matter to public notice. Congress declined 
to enter into an examination of the relative merits of the 
several claims, and suggested that all the claimant states 
should cede the lands claimed by them to the United States, 
to be administered in the interests of the whole people. 
New York led the way in making the cession as requested, New York 
and Virginia promised to do so on certain conditions. Con- 
fiding in the good 
will of the other 
claimant states, 
Maryland withdrew 
her opposition to the 
ratification of the 
Articles of Con- 
federation (March, 
1 781), and they 
went into force not 
long afterwards. 

One after another 
the states followed 
the example set by 
New York and trans- 
ferred their claims 
to western lands to 
the United States. 
Virginia (1784) in 
making her grant 
reserved the juris- 
diction and title to 

lands in Kentucky ; she also retained certain lands north of 
the Ohio, which had already been promised to her soldiers. 
Massachusetts (1785) abandoned all title to lands west of 
Pennsylvania. Connecticut (1786) ceded the lands claimed 
by her, except a strip one hundred and twenty miles in length 
lying directly west of Pennsylvania : this was called the Con- 
necticut or Western Reserve, and the proceeds of the lands 




Virginia. 



Daniel Boone 



Massachu- 
setts and 
Connecticut 



224 



The Constitution 



[§173 



The Caro- 
linas and 
Georgia. 



Policy of 
Congress as 
to western 
lands. 
Schouler's 
United 
States, I, 
108-113. 



Ordinance 
of 1785. 
Fiske's Criti- 
cal Period, 
196-198 ; 
Howard's 
Local Con- 
stitutional 
History, 135. 



thus reserved were used for educational purposes in Connect- 
icut ; in 1800 she ceded her rights of jurisdiction in this tract 
to the United States. South Carohna (i 787) abandoned her 
claim to a little strip twelve miles wide lying just south of 
North Carolina. North Carolina (1790) ceded her claim to 
jurisdiction over what is now Tennessee, but she had already 
granted away most of the land. Finally, in 1802, Georgia 
followed the other states, and ceded her claims to the vast 
tract between her present western boundary and the Missis- 
sippi River. Long before this, by the treaty of 1783, Great 
Britain had abandoned her right to this whole western region. 

173. The National Domain. — In suggesting that the 
states should transfer their claims to the United States, 
Congress (1780) had also proposed that the western lands 
should be "disposed of for the common benefit and be 
formed into distinct republican states, which shall become 
members of the federal union." Congress and the states 
seem to have agreed to regard this land as national prop- 
erty, to be used for national purposes, and its possession by 
the United States as a whole worked powerfully for the con- 
tinuance of union. In the pre-revolutionary days, the crown 
had the disposal of ungranted lands within the empire ; 
Congress regarded itself as the successor to the crown, and 
accordingly undertook the management of the public domain 
of the United States. 

In 1785, after the New York and Virginia cessions, but 
before the Massachusetts and Connecticut cessions, the 
Congress of the Confederation passed an ordinance, or law, 
for the government of the territory north and west of the 
Ohio River. This Ordinance provided for the ultimate 
formation of several new states. When formed, these states 
were to have republican governments and be admitted to 
the Confederation. The Ordinance originally contained a 
clause prohibiting slavery after the year 1800, in the western 
country north of the thirty-first parallel, but this had been 
omitted before the final vote ; its origin may be directly 
traced to Jefferson. Little was done to organize the terri- 



1787] 



The National Domain 



225 



tory under this Ordinance ; but the cession by Connecticut 
(1786) again brought the matter to the attention of Con- 
gress. Meantime, a New England land and emigration 
society had endeavored to induce emigration to the terri- 
tory, but had failed because settlers would not leave their 
homes in the East without direct guarantees of civil rights 
in the new settlements they were to found west of the Alle- 
ghanies. The society urged the matter upon Congress, 
which replied by passing the Ordinance of 1787, the most 
important piece of general legislation of the Confederation 
epoch. 




^^^ Y^^^^^^'^-^^'^ a^«^ 



. From the Columbian Magazine, 1786 

This Ordinance applied only to the territory northwest 
of the Ohio and provided for the ultimate formation of from 
three to five states out of that territory ; but, as a matter of 
fact, part of a sixth state — Minnesota — was also included 
in this region. In the first instance, Congress was to appoint 
the governor, judges, and military officers of the new terri- 
tory ; the governor and the judges were to possess legisla- 
tive powers, subject to the veto of Congress. As soon, 
however, as the free male inhabitants of full age should 
number five thousand, they should elect delegates to a 
House of Representatives. This body, with a governor and 



Ordinance 
of 1787. 
Fiske's Criti- 
cal Period, 

202-207 ; 

Cooley's 
Michigan ; 
Howard's 
Local Con- 
stitutional 
History, 
137-142; 
Old South 
Leaflets, Gen. 
Ser. No. 13; 
MacDon- 
ald's Docu- 
ments, No. 4. 



226 



The Constitution 



[§173 



Importance 
of the 
Ordinance. 



council appointed by Congress, formed the territorial Assem- 
bly ; it possessed full legislative power, provided the laws 
were not contrary to certain conditions laid down in the 
Ordinance ; and the Assembly could appoint a delegate to 
Congress, who, however, had no vote in that body. When- 
ever the population should increase to sixty thousand, the 
territory, or a portion of it, might be admitted to the Con- 
federation on a footing of equality with the original states. 
Settlers in this new region were guaranteed civil rights, as, 
for example, the benefit of the writ of habeas corpus, trial 
by jury, bail, and moderate fines and punishments ; laws 
impairing the obligation of prior contracts were forbidden, 
education was encouraged, and proper treatment of the 
Indians secured. The three most important provisions of 
the Ordinance are those which provided for the equal dis- 
tribution of the property of persons dying without a will, 
prohibited the molestation of any person on account of 
religion, and forbade slavery absolutely and forever except 
as a punishment for crime, — with a provision for the resto- 
ration of fugitive slaves. 

This Ordinance was in reality a form of constitution for 
colonies to be planted on the national domain ; it provided 
for them colonial governments on terms similar to those 
which the colonists had claimed for themselves before 1776 ; 
it guaranteed equal rights to the settlers ; and provided for 
their admission to full political rights as soon as their num- 
bers justified an expensive form of government. For the first 
time in the history of modern times, colonists and dwellers 
in the home land were to regard one another as equals. 

As the United States has acquired new land, territories 
have been organized on this model, with the omission in many 
cases of the clause relating to slavery. The new communities 
formed on the national domain have been termed territories 
and states. The use of these words, with the liberality of the 
policy outlined above, has disguised the fact that during the 
present century the United States has been the greatest and 
most successful colonizing power in the world. 



'787] 



Social Progress 



227 



The question of the power of Congress to pass this Ordi- 
nance has given rise to much discussion : southern writers 
generally have held that it was void and of no effect ; but 
the matter is really of little importance, as the first Congress 
under the Constitution re-enacted it. The precise nature 
of the Ordinance has also been disputed ; but usually it has 
been held that it was in the nature of a contract between 
Congress and the people of the several states, which could 
not be changed except with the consent of both parties to it. 

174. Social Progress, 1780-89. — The liberal and en- 
lightened provisions of the Ordinance of 1787 as to the 
distribution of estates, freedom of religion, and abolition of 
slavery were the outcome of a great social movement which 
began before the Revolution and continued long after it. 
Old barriers were everywhere swept away: in 1777 the 
people of Vermont, in their constitution, declared against 
slavery ; in 1780 John Adams wrote the words of the Massa- 
chusetts Bill of Rights, which declared that " all men are 
born free and equal," and three years later the Massachusetts 
Supreme Court interpreted this clause to mean that no per- 
son could be legally held as a slave in that commonwealth ; 
and (1780) Pennsylvania adopted a system of gradual 
emancipation. Indeed, when the Constitution went into 
effect (1788), of all the states north of Mason and Dixon's 
line New York and New Jersey alone had not taken meas- 
ures to free the slaves within their limits. During this period 
( 1 783-89) all the states except South Carolina and Georgia 
had restricted or abolished the slave trade from abroad and 
from neighboring states. 

As to the growth of liberal ideas in the settlement of 
religious questions, similar progress had been made : most of 
the state constitutions declared for complete religious free- 
dom ; in many states, however, Roman Catholics were still 
excluded from office, and in Massachusetts the dissenting 
faiths found it practically impossible to obtain the rights 
which the constitution of that state seemed to allow them. 
Laws against the Roman Catholics, which had been on the 



Legality 
of the 
Ordinance. 



Social 
progress, 
1780-89. 
Fiske's Criti- 
cal Period, 
69-89. 

Slave eman- 
cipation. 
Fiske's Criti- 
cal Period, 
71-76. 



Growih 
toward 
religious 
freedom. 
Fiske's Criti- 
cal Period, 
76-87. 



228 



The Constitution 



[§ 175 



The 

franchise 
liberalized. 
Fiske's Criti- 
cal Period, 
69-71. 



Relations 
with Great 
Britain, 

1783-89- 
Fiske's Criti- 
cal Period, 
119-133, 138- 
142. 



Statute books of the colonies since the seventeenth century, 
were repealed, and the Episcopal Church was disestablished 
in Virginia and Maryland. The evangelical faiths were organ- 
ized on a national basis, and bishops were secured by the 
Episcopalians, the Methodists, and the Roman Catholics. 

The conditions on which the franchise was conferred were 
also made more liberal : many states substituted a qualifica- 
tion resting on the payment of a tax for the much higher 
property quahfication of the colonial period. Laws designed 
to encourage the formation of great estates by giving to the 
eldest son of a deceased parent the whole, or the larger 
part, of the property were either greatly modified or entirely 
repealed. In fact, from the point of view of the student of 
the history of society, this period was one of great progress ; 
in other respects it was the most distressful period in the 
nation's history. 

1 75. Foreign Relations, 1783-89. — No sooner was peace 
declared, than the British merchants flooded the American 
markets with goods of all descriptions. These found a ready 
sale, for every one was looking forward to the future with 
hopefulness. Gold and silver were exported in large quanti- 
ties to pay for these commodities. Instead of doing every- 
thing possible to place it in the power of the people of the 
new nation to pay for goods already bought and to continue 
the purchase of British commodities, the government of Great 
Britain enforced against them all the commercial regulations 
which in the earlier time had been directed against foreigners. 
Under the Articles of Confederation, Congress had no power 
to make counteracting regulations, and, having nothing to 
give in return, could not compel the British government 
even to enter into negotiations for a commercial treaty. In 
all this, the British government proceeded in strict accord- 
ance with its rights, although the inexpediency of its actions 
is clear ; but in other respects, it violated the known rules of 
international law. The treaty of peace of 1 783, for instance, 
required the British to evacuate all military posts held by their 
forces within the limits of the new states, and not to take 



1787] 



Foreigji Relations 



229 



away private property ; but the British authorities refused to 
hand over the posts in the northwest, and dechned to make 
compensation for slaves taken away at the time of the evacua- 
tion of Charleston and New York, — and no compensation 
has ever been made. On the other hand, Great Britain had 
ground for serious complaint against the United States : the 
treaty required that no legal obstacles should be placed in 
the way of the collection of debts contracted before the war ; 
but the states refused to abolish existing obstacles and placed 
new ones in the way of the collection of debts by British 
creditors. Congress had no coercive power : it could only 
expostulate with the members of the Confederation and 
excuse their actions to the British government as well as it 
could. Under the circumstances,- it is difficult to condemn 
the action of the British authorities in retaining the posts 
and the profitable fur trade which centered in them. 

With Spain also there were several disputes : that power 
refused to recognize the thirty-first parallel as the southern 
boundary of the United States between the Mississippi and 
the Appalachicola rivers, and she maintained that " the 
Floridas " ceded to her by Great Britain in 1783 were the 
Floridas as they had been governed by British officials 
(p. 117). The Spanish government was also anxious to do 
away with the right of the Americans to the free navigation 
of the Mississippi, which now flowed for two hundred miles 
through Spanish territory (p. 209) ; but this matter did not 
interest any large body of the people on the Atlantic sea- 
board. On the other hand, there were many persons who 
desired commercial intercourse with Spain and with the 
Spanish colonies. This privilege the Spaniards were willing 
to grant on condition of the abandonment of the free naviga- 
tion of the Mississippi. Congress therefore authorized Jay, 
who represented the nation in foreign affairs, to negotiate 
a treaty on this basis. Even Washington attached slight 
importance to the matter ; Jefferson, however, wrote from 
Paris that such a policy would bring about the separation of 
the Eastern and the Western states. He was right, for the 



Weakness 
of Congress. 



Relations 
with Spain, 
1783-89. 
Fiske's Criti- 
cal Period, 
208-213 ; 
Winsor's 
America, 
VII, 222-223. 



230 



The Constitution 



[§176 



Depreciated 
paper money 
and " stay 
laws." 

Fiske's Criti' 
cal Period, 
162-176. 



Trevett vi. 
Weeden. 



protests from Kentucky and Tennessee became so strong 
that the project was abandoned. Foreign relations were 
in this condition when the organization of the government 
under the Constitution gave the United States power to make 
its treaties respected at home and to hamper foreign com- 
merce by levying discriminating duties, 

176. Financial Problems, 1783-86. — Within two years 
after the close of the conflict, the pressure of poverty was 
felt throughout the country as it had not been during the 
progress of the war itself: the good gold and silver pieces 
left the country to pay for foreign commodities, and only- 
old, worn, and clipped pieces remained ; business confidence 
disappeared, and in almost every state the debtor class 
clamored for some form of repudiation of their debts. 
They especially demanded the emission of paper money 
resting on little or no foundation save the credit of the state 
governments. A currency of this description was known to 
depreciate rapidly, and one advocate of such a plan pro- 
posed to embody a scale of depreciation in the act author- 
izing the printing of the bills, — a dollar to be worth four 
shilHngs on January i, three shillings on April i, and two 
shiUings on July i. In at least one state all persons were 
required to accept paper money issued by the state under 
pain of losing the right to vote and a fine of one hundred 
pounds. Those who owed money also demanded the enact- 
ment of laws to delay the collection of debts — stay laws, as 
they were. termed — and "tender laws," which permitted a 
debtor to offer goods, at certain rates, in discharge of his 
debts. Most of the states, except New Hampshire, Massa- 
chusetts, and Virginia, yielded to the popular clamor and 
issued large quantities of paper money. 

The most famous legal decision of the Confederation 
period arose in Rhode Island out of the refusal of a butcher 
named Weeden to part with his meat in exchange for paper 
money offered in payment by a would-be purchaser. The 
latter, whose name was Trevett, sued Weeden, and the case 
was tried, without a jury, by judges who were annually 



1787] 



The Critical Period 



231 



appointed by the legislature. They showed a courage worthy 
of the dauntless Stephen Hopkins : although entirely de- 
pendent on the legislature which had passed this act, they 
declared the law unconstitutional, and hence null and void. 
This case was one of the earliest instances in American 
legal history of the judicial annulment of a law on the ground 
of its unconstitutionality. Its importance has drawn marked 
attention to the financial misdoings of the Rhode Islanders ; 
but the standard of honesty throughout the thirteen states 
was, at the moment, very low. 

177. The Critical Period, 1786, 1787. — The lack of 
business confidence, which was mentioned in the last para- 
graph, was due in great part to a growing determination 
among the people to prevent by force the collection of 
debts by process of law. This led to armed conflicts in 
North Carolina and Massachusetts. In the latter state the 
rebels, led by Daniel Shays and Job Shattuck, prevented 
the judges from holding court in three corners of the state ; 
at one time it seemed as if the state government might be 
overwhelmed. The movement was put down, but the reb- 
els, fleeing to other states, everywhere found shelter. The 
crisis was so threatening that Congress began to make 
preparations to raise an army, — on account of an Indian 
war, so it was said, but really to intervene in case the insur- 
rection assumed formidable proportions. In addition to 
these troubles within many of the states, relations between 
them were by no means harmonious. 

One of the greatest obstacles to harmony was the arrange- 
ment whereby each state managed its own commercial 
affairs. Many states sought to protect the interests of their 
own citizens, entirely regardless of the interests of other 
states, and, indeed, sometimes at the cost of their neigh- 
bors. For instance, New York endeavored to protect her 
farmers against the competition of the agriculturalists of 
New Jersey; and when Massachusetts proposed to pass 
legislation to protect her shipowners and merchants against 
British competition, other New England states at once took 



Shays's 
Rebellion. 
Fiske's CritU 
cal Period, 
177-186; 
Winsor's 
America, 
VII, 227-231. 



Selfish policv 
of the states. 
Fiske's Criti' 
cal Period, 
144-154. 



232 



The Constitution 



[§178 



Attempt to 
amend the 
Articles, 
1780-87. 
Fiske's Criti' 
cat Period, 
142, 218. 
American 
History 
Leaflets, 
No. 28. 



Proposals 
for a consti- 
tutional 
convention. 
Fiske's Criti- 
cal Period, 
214-222. 



measures to thwart her to their own advantage. By the end 
of 1786, it wa^ evident that unless something were done 
radically to amend the Articles of Confederation, civil war 
would surely break out. 

178. Attempts to amend the Articles. — Before all the 
states had ratified the Articles of Confederation, their 
weakness had been recognized, and an attempt had been 
made to amend them. The first proposition (1781) was to 
give Congress the power to increase the revenues of the 
general government by laying duties on imports to the ex- 
tent of five per cent ad valore?n. In the course of a year, 
twelve states assented to the proposition ; but Rhode Island 
refused. As the consent of all the states was necessary to 
an amendment (p. 217), the proposition failed of adoption. 
Two years later (1783), Congress suggested that it should 
be given power to levy duties on imports, partly specific 
and partly ad valorem, the duties to be collected by state 
officials appointed by Congress. Again twelve states as- 
sented to the proposed change, but this time New York 
declined to consent, and this proposition also fell through. 
In fact, all attempts to amend the Articles failed, and Con- 
gress was not able to pay even the everyday expenses of the 
government. The country was rapidly drifting toward civil 
strife, when a convention met at Philadelphia (May, 1787) 
to propose a series of changes in the fundamental law of 
the Confederation. The meeting of this convention was 
the result of the labors of a few men, notably of James 
Madison and Alexander Hamilton, and they were greatly 
aided by disputes which had arisen over the commercial 
relations of the states bordering on Chesapeake Bay. 

179. Genesis of the Federal Convention. — Constitutional 
conventions are now part of the ordinary machinery of 
American government ; before 1787 they were hardly known. 
The Massachusetts constitution of 1780 had been framed 
by a convention composed of delegates especially elected 
for that purpose, but all the other state constitutions of the 
Revolutionary period had been the work of legislative bodies 



1785] Genesis of the Federal Convention 233 

(p. 177), although some of them had borne the designation 
of conventions. The Articles of Confederation had been 
drafted by the Continental Congress and ratified by the state 
legislatures (p. 217). Thomas Paine, in Common Sense 
(p. 179), had suggested that "a continental conference be 
held ... to frame a continental charter," and in a later 
pamphlet, entitled Public Good, he had advocated a revision 
of the Articles of Confederation ; and Massachusetts, in 1785, 
had directed her delegates in Congress to propose a general 
revision of the Articles. Nothing had come of these sug- 
gestions, and the Federal Convention was due to entirely 
different causes. 

The southern boundary of Maryland was the southern Alexandria 
bank of the Potomac River (p. 61), but practically all the Convention, 
commerce of that river had its origin in Virginia. On 
the other hand, the " capes of the Chesapeake " were both 
in Virginia, but a very large proportion of the shipping 
which passed in or out of the bay was bound to Maryland, 
especially to Baltimore, the most thriving commercial 
town south of Philadelphia. The Maryland regulations 
for the Potomac did not please the Virginians, nor did 
the Marylanders at all relish the payments which Virginia 
assessed on all vessels passing the " capes." It happened 
also that the tariff policies of the two states were very 
dissimilar. In short, there were constant disputes about 
these matters. Several times attempts had been made to 
adjust these differences, but without success. In 1785 
commissioners from Virginia and Maryland met at Alex- 
andria and adjourned their conferences to Washington's 
mansion of Mount Vernon near by. The discussions of 
the commissioners, among whom were James Madison 
and George Mason, soon extended to the desirability 
of similar tariffs and commercial regulations for all the 
states interested in the navigation of Chesapeake Bay 
and connecting waters. In their report, they suggested the 
appointment of a joint commission every second year to 
consider these topics. The Maryland Assembly at once fell 



234 



The Constitution 



[§ 1 80 



Annapolis 

Convention, 

1786. 

Sciiouler's 

United 

States, J, 

25-34- 



Calling of 
the Federal 
Convention. 



Delegates 
to the Con- 
vention. 
Fiske'p Criti- 
cal Period, 
222-229 i 
Schoiiler's 
United 
States, I, 39. 



in with the scheme, and invited Pennsylvania and Delaware 
to appoint commissioners. In Virginia, a fierce contest 
arose: it appeared that the Virginia commissioners had 
exceeded their instructions, which, in all probability, they 
had never seen, owing to a curious combination of circum- 
stances; the matter had gone so far, however, that Vir- 
ginia could hardly draw back; in the end, she proposed 
that commissioners from all the states should meet at 
Annapolis and consider the trade and commerce of the 
United States as a whole. The representatives of only five 
states appeared at the opening of this convention (1786), 
although others were on their way. Instead of waiting for 
them, and proceeding with the business for which the meet- 
ing had been summoned, the delegates present passed a 
resolution providing for another convention to amend the 
Articles of Confederation, to be held at Philadelphia in 
1787. Six states, including Virginia and Pennsylvania, 
appointed delegates to this new convention before Congress 
could bring itself to approve the plan and recommend its 
adoption to the states. On the same day that this vote was 
passed, although ignorant of its passage, Massachusetts ap- 
pointed her delegates, and. Congress having spoken, the 
other states, except Rhode Island, fell into line. 

180. The Federal Convention, 1787. — When the mem- 
bers of the convention met for the first time at Philadel- 
phia (May 25, 1787), it was at once apparent that, with few 
exceptions, the strongest men in the United States were 
there. New Hampshire was not represented at the begin- 
ning of the discussion, Rhode Island was not represented 
at all, and of the Revolutionary leaders, John Adams, Samuel 
Adams, John Jay, Patrick Henry, and Thomas Jefferson 
were not present. With these exceptions, however, the 
men who had shown the greatest ability in the management 
of affairs or in knowledge of men were there. The oldest 
and ablest of them was Benjamin Franklin, whose connec- 
tion with the Albany Plan of Union (p. 138) and with the 
formation of the Articles of Confederation has already been 



^7^71 



The Constitution 



235 



described ; he was to recognize the critical moment and 
to suggest a compromise which made the adoption of the 
Constitution a possibility. The most prominent figure in 
the assemblage was George Washington, who was already 
" first in the hearts of his countrymen." He was chosen 
to preside over the convention ; his name, therefore, seldom 
A y . appears in Madison's 

/a^^^i^^ ^i^^^ix^J^^*^^ JVotes; but just be- 
a fore the end he made 

an important suggestion, which was at once adopted by the 
convention. Washington and Franklin made few speeches, 
but, in all probability, 
they exerted great in- 
fluence in smoothing 
away differences, and 
their presence was an 
inspiration to the other 
members. Moreover, 

their approval of the 
Constitution in its final 
form gave to the plan 
a place in the eyes of 
large masses of the peo- 
ple which it otherwise 
would not have had. In 
addition to Washington, 
the Virginian delegation 
contained George Mason, James Madison, and Edmund 
Randolph, and besides Franklin, Pennsylvania was repre- 
sented by James Wilson, a great constitutional lawyer, 
Robert Morris, the financier of the Revolution, and 
Gouverneur Morris, to whom the Constitution mainly 
owes its clear and simple language. Delaware sent John 
Dickinson, who had reported the Articles of Confedera 
tion. Connecticut sent her veteran statesman Roger Sher- 
man, who had served in nearly every Congress, Oliver 
Ellsworth, and William S. Johnson. Massachusetts was 




Gouverneur Morris 



236 



The Constitution 



[§i8i 



Genesis of 
the Constitu- 
tion. 

Winsor's 
America, 
VII, 237-246; 
*Bryce's 
Cornmon- 
ivealth (abd. 
ed.), chs. iii, 
XXV, xxviii, 
xxix. 



Fiske's Civil 
Government, 
cb. vii. 



represented by four able and experienced men : Elbridge 
Gerry, Caleb Strong, Nathaniel Gorham, and Rufus King. 
New York sent Alexander Hamilton, New Jersey, Governor 
Patterson, and South Carolina was represented by the two 
Pinckneys and John Rutledge. These were the foremost 
men in that remarkable assemblage, but all the members 
were men of mark, of experience, and of ability. 

The convention met daily, with brief adjournments to 
facilitate the work of committees, until September 1 7, when 
it finally adjourned. Its discussions were secret, and it 
was not until long afterwards, when Madison's Notes were 
printed, that the difficulties which surrounded its delibera- 
tions were known. 

181. Nature of the Constitution. — The best way to 
reach a thorough knowledge of the nature of the Constitu- 
tion is to read Madison's Notes. The student will at once 
notice the straightforward character of 
the debates of the convention, and will /^f/^^ 
be impressed with the patriotism and 
the good sense of its members. It is surprising to observe 
how little they relied upon theoretical considerations, and 
how much they confided in the test of experience. The Con- 
stitution is, in reality, a most skillful adaptation of the best 
features of the existing state constitutions to the needs of 
a federation. A few things in it were necessarily new, for 
the problem to be settled was new. An historical student 
familiar with colonial history and with the constitutions of 
the Revolutionary epoch can find precedents for nearly all 
its more important features. Instead of having been 
" struck off at a given time from the brain and purpose of 
man," as Mr. Gladstone declared, it was the result of the 
experience of the English race in Britain and in America. 
The idea of a written constitution was not new; every 
colonial government had been regulated in conformity with 
a written document, — a charter or a commission and its 
accompanying instructions. The origin of the Supreme 
Court can be found in the authority exercised by the Privy 




1787] The Great Compromises 237 

Council in annulling colonial acts which were contrary to 
the fundamental laws and usages of England, to a charter, 
or to a commission. The veto power exercised by the 
President was drawn from the constitution of Massachusetts. 
The idea of the Electoral College was derived from the 
Maryland constitution. There is no more truth in the 
remark of Sir Henry Maine, that the Constitution is "a 
modified version of the British Constitution," than there is 
in the saying of Mr. Gladstone mentioned above. The 
principal new points were the attempt to form a detailed 
written constitution for a federation, and its submission 
to the people for ratification. 

182. The Great Compromises. — It is hardly correct to Plans for a 
describe the convention as divided into parties; it is "^^ Consti-^ 

, tution. 

true, however, that parties were formed on nearly every piske's OUi. 
important question, and that oftentimes the same states cai Period, 
would group themselves together on several propositions, ^■^f"^'',^'. 
The first division came about at the very beginning, when United 
Edmund Randolph, in the name of the. Virginia delegation, states, i, 
introduced a plan which was mainly the work of Madison ^ 
and had received the sanction of Washington. This scheme, 
known as the Virginia plan, provided for the formation of 
a national government with a legislative body, or Congress, 
of two houses, in both of which representation should be 
based on population; the scheme also contemplated that 
the executive and judicial ofificers should be appointed by 
the Congress. This plan would have placed the govern- 
ment in the hands of the larger states, and it was fiercely 
attacked by the delegates from the smaller states. The 
latter, however, weri in the minority; for, as we have seen, 
Rhode Island was never represented at all, and New Hamp- 
shire's representatives did not arrive until July 23. By 
this time the convention had settled many of the main 
features of the plan, and the majority of New York's dele- 
gation had retired in disgust at the evident intention 
of the convention to override the wishes of the smaller 
states, — it must be remembered that New York was then 



238 



The Constitution 



[§182 



Compromise 
on represen- 
tation. 

Fiske's Criti- 
cal Period, 
250-253- 

The " federal 
ratio." 

Fiske's Criti- 
cal Period, 
256-262 ; 
Old South 
Leajlets, Gen, 
Ser. No. 70. 



regarded as one of the smaller states. The representatives 
of these states then supported a scheme brought forward 
by Patterson of New Jersey, and known as the New Jersey 
plan. This provided for the continuance of the existing 
government, but gave Congress power to regulate commerce, 
to raise revenue, and to coerce the states. These were the 
most important schemes presented to the convention; but 
Hamilton read a plan for a strong centralized government 
in which the states would have little power; he knew that 
such a plan " was very remote from the ideas of the people," 
and offered it only as a statement of his own views on the 
matter. Charles Pinckney of South Carolina also pre- 
sented a plan, which resembled the Virginia scheme in 
general outline but was much more detailed. The contest 
turned on the Virginia and the New Jersey plan, and the 
former was adopted as the basis of a new constitution. 
For a time it seemed as if the smaller states would with- 
draw, but finally, through the efforts of Roger Sherman and 
Benjamin Franklin, a compromise was effected which gave 
the states equal representation in the Senate and propor- 
tional representation in the House of Representatives. 

The next question was the apportionment of representa- 
tives in the lower house. Slavery still existed in the South; 
should slaves, who had no vote, be counted in estimating 
the representation of that section in Congress? And what 
should be done as to direct taxes, — should these be appor- 
tioned among the states according to their total popula- 
tions, or should the slaves be omitted from this estimate? 
This matter was finally compromised by providing that both 
representation and direct taxes should be apportioned among 
the states according to a ratio which should be ascertained 
"by adding to the whole number of free persons, including 
those bound to service for a term of years, and excluding 
Indians not taxed, three-fifths of all other persons," namely, 
slaves. This provision was called " the federal ratio," and, 
so far as it related to representation, greatly increased the 
political power of the slave owners. 



^7^72 A Government of Checks and Balances 239 



The third great compromise also turned on the question 
of slavery : the New Englanders, largely interested in 
commerce, were anxious that Congress should be given 
power to protect American shipping interests against for- 
eign competition by means of discriminating duties, navi- 
gation acts, or other similar measures; the Southerners, 
fearful lest this power would be used to prohibit the slave 
trade, resisted. The South Carolinians were especially 
sensitive and Rutledge even declared that the question of 
whether " the Southern States shall or shall not be parties 
to the union " depended upon the mode in which this mat- 
ter was arranged. In the end, Congress was given power 
over commerce, but was forbidden to prohibit the slave 
trade before 1808, though it might levy a tax of ten dollars 
on each slave imported. This qualification proved to be 
valueless, as no tax of the kind was ever voted by Congress 
(p. 270). These compromises were on vital points; but 
the element of compromise entered into the settlement of 
nearly every section of the Constitution. It will be well 
now to glance at a few of the leading features of that great 
instrument. 

183. A Government of Checks and Balances. — The only 
way to grasp the real meaning of the Constitution is to 
read it carefully several times and to memorize the more 
important sections of it. An analysis of the document is 
inadequate, for the Constitution is itself only a summary. 
In this section and in those which follow, a few only of the 
more important considerations which have affected its life 
will be stated. 

One of the first things to strike the reader is the 
endeavor of its framers to establish " a government of 
checks and balances." Three great departments are 
provided : the legislative, the judicial, and the executive. 
Each is given power to defend itself against the encroach- 
ments of the other two, and each acts as a check on 
the others. The Constitution framers had good reason 
to attempt the accomplishment of this difficult purpose; 



Compromise 
on the slave 
trade. 

Fiske's Criti- 
cal Period, 



The Con- 
stitution. 
Avier.can 
History 
Leaflets, 
No. 8. 
Extracts to 
be mem- 
orized, 
Guide, \ 47 ). 

" Checks and 
balances." 



240 



The Constitution 



[§184 



The 

legislative 
powers. 
•Bryce's 
Common- 
wealth 
(abd. ed.), 
chs. ix-xx; 
Fiske's Civit 
Government, 

912-222. 



m the old colonial days, which most of them remem- 
bered, the governors of the royal provinces had exercised 
all three functions, greatly to the dissatisfaction of the 
colonists ; and the legislative body of Great Britain had 
held the supreme power. To avoid establishing a govern- 
ment which could develop into either of these forms, the 
framers of the Constitution sought to give each department 
its due share of power, and to prevent any one department 
from making itself supreme. For instance, the executive 
power is vested in the President; but he also exercises 
important legislative functions in his veto, and judicial 
power in his right to pardon. The legislative power is 
lodged in Congress, but the Senate acts as an advisory 
council to the President, — without its consent no important 
appointment can be made and no treaty ratified. The 
judicial power is intrusted to the Supreme Court and in- 
ferior courts; but, as no law can be enforced which the 
Supreme Court declares to be unconstitutional, the Supreme 
Court, in fact, exercises supreme legislative functions. 
Finally, the House of - Representatives, by means of its 
initiative in taxation, exercises a most effectual control 
over the executive department. 

184. The Legislative Power. — The legislative power is 
confined to certain subjects enumerated in the Constitution, 
and is further restricted by the first ten amendments, 
especially by the tenth, which declares that "the powers 
not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor 
prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States 
respectively or to the people." The Supreme Court is the 
authorized interpreter of the fundamental law, and it has 
construed the Constitution in the broadest possible way; 
following these decisions. Congress has exercised powers, 
many of which were probably never dreamed of by the 
framers of that instrument or by the members of the ratify- 
ing conventions, whose votes gave it the force of law. 
Acts of Congress are "the supreme law of the land," unless 
the Supreme Court declares them unconstitutional, and 



1787] 



The Supreme Court 



241 



hence null and void. In the exercise of this extensive 
grant of power, Congress can pass no ex post facto laws, but 
the prohibition to enact legislation " impairing the obliga- 
tion of contracts " applies only to the states and does not 
affect the Congress of the United States. 

The states, on the other hand, are forbidden (Art. i, 
§ lo) to enter into negotiations with foreign states, to coin 
money, emit bills of credit, make anything except gold 
and silver a .tender in payment of debts, pass any law 
impairing the obligation of contracts, grant titles of nobil- 
ity, lay imposts, — except to secure the enforcement of 
inspection laws, maintain an army or navy in time of peace, 
or engage in war unless actually invaded. 

185. The Supreme Court, — In place of long, detailed 
descriptions of the powers granted, the framers of the 
Constitution used general dsscriptive phrases and then gave 
Congress (Art. i, § 8) power to pass laws " necessary and 
proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers, 
and all other powers vested by this Constitution in the 
United States, or in any department or officer thereof." 
Among other things. Congress is authorized "to regulate 
commerce with foreign nations and among the several 
states," and "to lay taxes, duties, imposts, and excises 
to pay the debts and provide for the common defence and 
general welfare of the United States." It must be evident 
to every student that when such general phrases are used in 
the organic law, the body which has the final decision as 
to their meaning possesses the most important and weighty 
functions in the state. This tribunal is the Supreme Court, 
whose members are protected from molestation, as they 
hold their offices during good behavior, and receive salaries 
"which shall not be diminished during their continuance 
in office." The Supreme Court, too, unlike other federal 
courts exists by virtue of the Constitution, and cannot be 
abolished by act of Congress. Its judges, therefore, are 
independent of all men to an extent not known elsewhere. 
The court has no initiative, and is not consulted before 



Limited 

power of 
the states. 



Functions of 

the Supreme 

Court. 

*Bryce's 

Com?non- 

•wealtk 

(abd. ed.), 

ch. xxi; 

Fiske's Civil 

Government, 

250-254. 



Position of 

the Supreme 
Court. 



242 



The Constitution 



[§i86 



Importance 
of the inter- 
pretation 
of the 

Constitution. 
Winsor's 
America, 
VII, 251- 
255; *Bryce's 
Common- 
wealtk 
(abd. ed.). 
chs. xxii- 
xxiii, xxxi. 



the passage of a law ; its functions are confined to cases 
" arising under the Constitution " ; and it has no com- 
mon-law criminal jurisdiction. Following the precedent 
set by the Rhode Island judges in the case of Trevett 
vs. Weeden, the Supreme Court has always regarded the 
Constitution in the light of a fundamental law, to be 
interpreted according to the mode sanctioned by the law. 
Upon these decisions the development of the country has 
depended to a much greater extent than would at first sight 
appear. Recurring to the phrases given at the beginning 
of this section, it will at once be seen that upon the inter- 
pretation of such a phrase as " commerce between the states," 
"Congress shall have power," and "necessary and proper," 
the whole framework of government depends. Does the 
third of these limit the function of Congress to the pas- 
sage of such laws only as are absolutely essential to the 
carrying out of the powers granted by the Constitution, or 
does the phrase "necessary and proper" mean convenient? 
Does the clause "Congress shall have power to tax" mean 
only that Congress may levy a tax, or does it mean that 
Congress may legislate on any subject connected with taxa- 
tion, for instance, establish a national bank because such 
an establishment conduces to the easy collection of taxes? 
Or, to take another case, does the authority " to regulate 
commerce " mean simply that Congress can secure for the 
commerce of one state free entrance into another state, or 
does it mean that Congress may regulate railway fares and 
determine what kind of couplings for freight cars shall be 
used by railroads which run through more than one state? 
The Supreme Court has generally adopted the broadest 
views on questions of this kind; and thus has arisen the 
doctrine of "implied powers," conferring on the govern- 
ment of the United States every function which may be 
convenient for the exercise of any power that the Constitu- 
tion has conferred on the general government. 

1 86. Political Parties. — Around this question of constitu- 
tional interpretation there was waged a political controversy 



1787] Political Parties 243 

which lasted from the formation of the government to the Genesis of 
outbreak of the Civil War. The party which has been in poi'^'cal 
the minority in the country, as a whole, has been strong in schouTer's 
separate states, and usually has been strong in a group of United 
states in some one section. For example, the Republicans ■j'^'f'". I._6o: 
were predominant in the Southern states in 1798, the Fed- Oratiom^ 
eralists, in New England in 1814, and the Democrats, in the ^^n- 
Southern states in the time of the contest over the extension 
of slavery. The party which has been in a minority for states* rights 
any length of time has usually adopted that theory of con- doctrine, 
stitutional interpretation which would confer on one state 
the right to block the action of the general government. 
The theory on which this interpretation has rested was that 
the Constitution was a "compact" between "sovereign 
states." To protect the rights of the states from invasion, it 
was essential that the Constitution should be strictly con- 
strued to preserve to the states every power not expressly 
conferred by it on the central government. This States' 
rights doctrine was held by the Republicans in 1798 and 
1799 (P* 286), by the New England Federalists in 1814 
(p. 344), by Calhoun and the South Carolinians at the time 
of the nullification episode (p. 391), and by the leaders in 
the secession of 1860-61 (p. 473). 

The party which has controlled the national government _ 
has generally maintained the opposite doctrine : that the natfoi^l" 
Constitution was the framework of a national government existence, 
formed by " the people " of the whole United States acting in its 
sovereign capacity. According to this theory, the Constitution 
should be interpreted to give the central government whatever 
powers were convenient as aids to the carrying out of its func- 
tions. In this way originated the doctrine of implied powers 
(p. 242). This theory of a liberal interpretation of the 
organic law was held by Hamilton and his party at the organ- 
ization of the government (p. 272), by Jefferson when in 
power (p. 327), by Marshall throughout his long tenure of 
the chief justiceship (p. 350), by Webster in his reply to 
Hayne (p, 393), and by Lincoln and the Republican party. 



244 



The Constitution 



r§i87 



The wording of the Constitution is indefinite in many 
respects, but this indefiniteness has been far from being a 
disadvantage. On the contrary, it has proved to be a source 
of strength ; for the Constitution has been capable of in- 
terpretation according to the varying wishes of the people 
and the circumstances of the times. This has contributed 
to the stability of the government, which has been further 
strengthened by the slowness with which new ideas and 
interpretations can be acted upon and by the natural con- 
servatism of the American people. 

187. Stability of the Constitution. — It is true that the 
framers of the Constitution provided a mode by which the 
instrument might be amended (Art. v) ; but the method 
which they devised for this purpose has proved difficult in 
practice. More than seventeen hundred amendments have 
been proposed in an official manner, but only fifteen have 
become part of the organic law. This number might be 
reduced still further, as the first ten amendments are in the 
nature of a Bill of Rights, and were adopted at one time ; 
the last three, also, relate to one subject, and were the out- 
come of the Civil War. If the first ten are regarded as one, 
and the last three also as one, it may be said that the Con- 
stitution has been changed only four times by process of 
amendment. Furthermore, it is well to note that between 
1804 and 1865 not a single amendment was adopted. 

Another cause which has greatly contributed to bring 
about this stability, is the slowness with which a political 
party can gain control of the machinery of the government. 
At the outset, the FederaUsts, who had secured the adoption 
of the Constitution, obtained possession of all three depart- 
ments; the great revolution which occurred in 1800 gave 
the mastery of the executive and the legislative branch to 
the Republicans, but the judiciary remained in the control 
of the Federalists for a generation. The only example of 
a sudden change in the policy of all three departments 
occurred in 186 1, at the beginning of the Civil War, and 
that was caused by the refusal of the Southerners any longer 



1787] Stability of the Constitution 245 

to take part in the management of the affairs of the nation. 
This slow movement of the poUtical machinery is due mainly 
to the different terms of office of the executive, of the mem- 
bers of the two houses of Congress, and of the justices of 
the Supreme Court. The last hold their positions for hfe, 
and as fast as they die or resign, their places are filled by 
the President with the consent of the Senate. The mem- 
bers of the latter body are chosen by the legislatures of the 
several states, and serve for six years — one third retiring 
biennially. The President holds office for four years ; he is 
elected indirectly by the people, but jn choosing him the 
people of the smaller states have more influence in propor- 
tion to their numbers than have the voters of the more 
populous states ; this is owing to the fact that in the elec- 
toral college no state has fewer than three votes. More- 
over, when no candidate for the presidency has received a 
majority of all the electoral votes, the choice devolves upon 
the House of Representatives, voting by states. The Presi- 
dent may, therefore, be the choice of a minority of the 
people, and this has happened more than once, as, for ex- 
ample, in 1824. The representatives are chosen for two 
years by the voters of the several states, and their number 
was apportioned among the several states according to " the 
federal ratio" (p. 238) until the adoption of the Thirteenth 
and the Fourteenth amendments abolished slavery, but each 
state, regardless of its population, has at least one represen- 
tative. It will be seen from this brief statement that before 
the Civil War the people of no state were represented in any 
branch of the general government according to population 
or voting strength. And even now, since the adoption of the 
Fourteenth Amendment, they are so represented only in one 
portion of the three great departments. A minority of the 
people, therefore, has frequently controlled the government 
and directed the policy of the nation. Moreover, it has 
often happened that the President and Congress have repre- 
sented two divergent views of poHtical action. Even when 
this has not been the case, the President and the represen- 



246 



The Constitution 



[§i88 



tatives have often stood for one party, while the Senate has 
been in the hands of the other party, and has been able to 
thwart the wishes of a majority of the voters of the country. 
These arrangements have made legislation difficult, and 
have prevented sudden changes ; but they have contributed 
most strongly to maintain the stability and strength of the 
government. 

188. The President. — "The President of the United 
States," to use the official title conferred on the chief magis- 
trate by the Constitution, occupies a peculiar position among 
rulers of modern times. Representing the whole people and 
all the states as no other man represents them, he enters 
upon the discharge of his duties after taking a solemn oath 
" to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the 
United States" (Art. ii). In peaceful times, he acts merely 
as the chief magistrate of the nation, being obliged to gain 
the consent of the Senate to all important appointments 
and to treaties concluded with foreign powers. He is 
otherwise free ; for although he may consult the heads of 
the great departments, he need not heed their advice. In 
the interpretation of his powers as chief executive and as 
commander in chief of the army and navy, he acts upon his 
own responsibility. It is true that the Senate passed a vote 
of censure on Jackson (p. 406), but Jackson's reply defend- 
ing the independence of the executive department was con- 
clusive. The Supreme Court has also interfered to control 
the President (p. 403), but it has no power to enforce its 
decisions as against the chief executive. The President can 
be impeached by the House of Representatives and con- 
victed by the Senate, but only for " treason, bribery, or other 
high crimes and misdemeanors," and only with the consent 
of two thirds of the senators present (p. 543). 

In time of war, especially of civil war, the President's 
powers have no limit ; he may exercise functions resem- 
bling those of a dictator. For instance, Lincoln issued 
the Emancipation Proclamation (p. 515) by virtue of these 
"war powers." The President is obliged "to defend the 



1787] Ratification of the Constitution 247 

Constitution" and to secure the "faithful execution of the 
laws." To attain these objects he may, at his discretion, use 
the whole army and navy of the United States. He can act 
witliout consultation with any one — unless he so desires — 
and he concerns himself only with the violators of the laws, 
no matter who they may be. 

189. Ratification of the Constitution, 1787, 1788. — Con- End of the 
gress had authorized the Federal Convention to propose ^q^^^^?^' 
amendments to the Articles of Confederation whose ratifica- Leaflets, G&n, 
tion, under the Articles, would require the consent of all the Sen No. i, 
thirteen states. The framers of the Constitution had pro- ^^fl'i/f^a^^ 
ceeded in an entirely different spirit : the first resolution states, I, 
adopted by them declared that " a national government ought ^^~79- 
to be established." In submitting the result of their labors to 
Congress, they stated : " In all our deliberations ... we 
kept steadily in view that which appears to us the greatest 
interest of every true American, the consolidation of our 
Union, in which is involved our prosperity, felicity, safety, 
perhaps our national existence." Furthermore, they pro- 
posed a method of ratification of the new instrument which 
was in itself unconstitutional — according to the Articles — 
and in opposition to the vote of Congress under which they 
had acted : they recommended to Congress that the new Process of 

- , , , , ^ , , ratification. 

mstrument of government should be voted on by conven- piske's Criti, 
tions elected by the people of the several states for this cal Period, 
express purpose, and that the consent of nine states should ^ ^^^' 
be sufficient for the establishment of this Constitution " be- 
tween the states so ratifying the same." Congress carried 
out the wishes of the convention in this regard, and voted 
(September 28, 1787) to transmit the Constitution "to the 
several legislatures, in order to be submitted to a conven- 
tion of delegates chosen in each state by the people 
thereof." It is important to note this process in detail, 
as the Constitution begins with the words : " We the people 
of the United States, ... do ordain and establish this Con- 
stitution." But what does the phrase " We, the people of 
the United States," signify? On the one hand, it has been 



248 



TJie Constitution 



[§189 



Breach of 

the Articles 
of Confed- 
eration. 



maintained that the state conventions were used merely as 
a convenient means for ascertaining the will of the people 
of the United States as a whole ; on the other hand, it has 
been urged that the people of the several states, each sov- 
ereign in itself, ratified the Constitution. If this latter were 
the correct view, it would necessarily follow that a state 
which had acceded to the Constitution could withdraw from 
the new union by simply holding another convention and 
repealing the ratifying ordinance. As an historical fact — 
entirely apart from legal and theoretical considerations — 
it is undoubtedly true that this was the view of the voters 
whose consent gave the Constitution its validity : the voters 
of each state regarded themselves as perfectly at liberty to 
enter the new union or not as they saw fit, and if they had 
supposed for an instant that once in the Union withdrawal 
would be impossible, it is probable that nine states would 
never have ratified the Constitution. While this is all true 
concerning the opinions and intentions of those who gave 
force to the organic law, it is also true that from the point 
of view of history it would be impossible to point to a 
moment of time when any state was " a sovereign state." 
" The Union," as Lincoln said, " is older than the states " ; 
no state ever existed apart from the Union ; no state ever 
exercised complete sovereign power. 

Another point to which attention should especially be 
called is the fact that the mode of ratification was contrary 
to the existing constitution, — the Articles of Confederation, 
— which required the consent of the legislatures of all the 
states to its amendment. Yet now (1789) eleven states, or 
" the people of the United States " Uving in eleven states, 
by ratifying the Constitution formed a new union, and left 
the two hesitating states to get along as well as they could. 
Bearing all these facts in mind, it is to a study of the de- 
bates of the ratifying conventions that the student must 
turn to obtain a true conception of the intentions of the 
makers of the organic law. " The Constitution," said Madi- 
son in 1796, "as it came from the convention was nothing 



1788] 



Ratification of the Constitution 



249 



more than the draft of a plan ; nothing but a dead letter, 
until life and validity were breathed into it by the voice of 
the people speaking through the several state conventions 
which accepted and ratified it." 

Between December, 1787, and June, 1788, ten states rati- 
fied the Constitution ; New York followed in July, and only 
Rhode Island and North Carolina had not ratified at the time 
of Washington's inauguration. The period extending from 
the publication of the report of the convention to the rati- 




Stratford House. Westmoreland, Virginia. Birthplace of R. H. Lee 

fication of New Hampshire and Virginia, the ninth and 
tenth states (June, 1788), was one of the most critical and 
momentous in the history of America. The friends of 
the Constitution termed themselves Federalists, and called 
their opponents Anti-Federalists; but these terms hardly 
described the positions of the contending parties. Patrick 
Henry was probably the ablest opponent of ratification ; he 
declared himself to be in favor of a federal form of govern- 
ment, and objected to the proposed Constitution because it 
would establish "one great, consolidated, national govern- 



Opposition 
to ratifica- 
tion. 

Winsor's 
America, 
VII, 247-251. 



250 



The Constitution 



[§189 



Amendments 
of the Con- 
stitution. 



ment of all the people of the states." Other honest, high- 
minded, and patriotic men opposed ratification because they 
desired a more democratic form of government than the one 
proposed by the Convention. Another most weighty objec- 
tion to the scheme lay in the omission of any clear statement 
of the rights of the people. The question at issue, however, 

was the acceptance 
of the proposed Con- 
stitution, or anarchy 
and civil war. It 
was absolutely nec- 
essary to ratify the 
Constitution as it 
stood ; but those 
opposed to it were, 
in a measure, satis- 
fied by the suggestion 
of amendments which 
might be made as 
soon as the new gov- 
ernment should be 
organized. 

The government 
was no sooner organ- 
ized than Congress 
put such of these 
suggestions as it ap- 
proved into the form 
of ten amendments, which were promptly ratified and 
declared in force, November, 1791. These amendments 
provide that (Art. ix) "the enumeration in the Constitu- 
tion of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or dis- 
parage others retained by the people," and (Art. x) that 
"powers not delegated to the United States, .... nor 
prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States or 
to the people." The other eight amendments provide for 
the separation of church and state, protect the freedom of 




Richard Henry Lee 



1788] 



The Constitution 



251 



the press and of petition, guarantee trial by jury, and, in 
general, provide the safeguards for personal liberty which 
are to be found in the Bills of Rights of the Revolutionary 
epoch. 

Had these amendments been part of the Constitution 
when it was laid before the ratifying conventions, they 
would have gone far to remove the objections of men like 
Patrick Henry and Samuel Adams, Their importance 
can hardly be overestimated, and it should always be care- 
fully borne in mind that the Constitution, as originally 
framed by the Federal Convention, was practically never in 
operation. 

Alexander Hamilton had slight confidence in the efficacy 
of the Constitution to provide a stable government for the 
country ; but he recognized that it was the only organic law 
which could be established and that it was far better than 
the Articles of Confederation. He, therefore, used all his 
influence and his great talents to secure its adoption. As 
one means of instructing public opinion, he wrote a series 
of articles which were printed in the newspapers under an 
assumed name. These, with a few others trom the pens 
of John Jay and James Madison, were afterwards gathered 
into a volume entitled the Federalist. This treatise is to- 
day the best commentary on the Constitution and should be 
studied by all who desire to have a thorough understanding 
of its provisions. The best statement of the views of the 
opponents of ratification were the Letters of a Federalist 
Farmer, by Richard Henry Lee, and the speeches of Pat- 
rick Henry in the Virginia Ratifying Convention. For 
many years, it was customary for historical writers to ridi- 
cule the arguments put forward by Patrick Henry, R. H. 
Lee, George Mason, Samuel Adams, and George Clinton. 
More recently, there has been a disposition to study the 
history of this memorable epoch in a fairer spirit, and to do 
justice to the patriotism and ability of these leaders of public 
opinion. 

The Constitution has proved deficient in a few respects : 



Importance 
of the first ten 
amendments. 



Extracts in 
Old South 
Leaflets, V, 
No. 7, Gen. 
Ser. No. 12. 

Old South 
Leaflets, V, 
No. 6. 



252 The Constitution [§189 

for instance, it contains no provision to enable the general 
government to acquire new territory. Many writers have de- 
plored the concessions which were made to the slave owners ; 
but the great difficulties of the time in dealing with that 
grave problem should be remembered. When all has been 
said, however, the Constitution remains the most marvellous 
written poHtical instrument that has ever been made. It 
was designed by men familiar with the mode of life of 
the eighteenth century, to provide an escape from the evil 
conditions of that time,- and to furnish a practicable form of 
government for four millions of human beings inhabiting the 
fringe of a continent. It has proved, with few exceptions, 
sufficient for the government of seventy millions, living in 
forty-five states, covering an area imperial in extent, and 
under circumstances unthought of in 1787. 



Questions and Topics 253 



SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS AND TOPICS 
§ 166. Nationalism and Particularism 

a. Define nationalism; distinguish it from the principle of national- 
ity; define particularism. 

b. Methods of representation : distinguish between local represen- 
tation, national representation, representation according to population; 
give arguments for and against each method. 

§§ 167-169. The Articles of Confederation 

a. Discussion of the text: Arts, i, ii, iii. Discuss minutely the 
phraseology of the title and the first three articles as to the bearing of 
their significant words and provisions upon nationalism; compare with 
the Declaration of Independence and with the Constitution. 

Article V. State objeclions to one national legislative house and 
prove their validity; to annual elections to such a legislative body; to 
payment of its members by the states individually. 

Article VIII. What provision fatal to federal authority does this 
article contain? Prove your answer. 

b. Collect the matter of the articles under the following heads and 
compare it with similar matter in the Constitution : Form of govern- 
ment (territory, finance, commerce, foreign relations, peace and war, 
enforcement of laws). Division of power between federal and state 
authority. Express limitations, prohibitions, and obligations. 

c. Recite the clauses of the Constitution which remedy the defects 
of Arts, ii and ix, of v, of vi, of viii, of xiii. 

§§ 170-173. The Public Domain 

a. Point out the peculiar hardships of Maryland's position, and com- 
ment upon her conduct. 

b. What two principles enunciated by Congress in 1780 became the 
foundation of the territorial system of the United States? 

§ 174. Social Progress 

a. Describe and give arguments in favor of the freehold qualification 
for suffrage. Discuss as basis for suffrage : property, education, man- 

253 



254 T^^ Constitution 

hood, birth. What restrictions upon sufifrage exist to-day in your 
state? in your city or town? 

§§ I75-I78. Foreign and Domestic Affairs 

a. Pick out the clauses in the Articles which prevented Congr-ess 
from making " counteracting regulations." 

b. Place in note-book as headings : " Secession," "Theory of States' 
Rights," " National Theory," and enter under each all fitting material. 

c. Quote the clauses of the Constitution which "gave the United 
States power to make its treaties respected at home and to hamper 
foreign commerce by levying discriminating duties." Why should we 
not levy discriminating duties to-day? 

d. Look up Gresham's Law and illustrate it by matter in § 176. 
Can a legislative body fix the value of money? Look up the history of 
the French assignats. 

e. Draw a parallel between the condition of the United States in 
1783-86 and in 1893-96 under the following heads: uncertain standard 
of value, movement of the currency medium, resulting condition of 
currency, effects upon confidence, decision of the people. 

f. Enumerate the reasons for which the years 1786, X787, are called 
"The Critical Period." Which was the most important? Why? 

§§ 179, 180, The Federal Convention 

a. Put as heading in note-book, " Influence of Commercial Ques« 
lions in shaping the History of the United States"; review colonial 
history and enter all fitting matter; as you advance make new entries. 

§§ 181-189. The Constitution 

a. Read the Constitution sentence by sentence and try to find in 
your knowledge of colonial history and of colonial documents prece- 
dents for each provision. 

^ b. Enter in note-book as three separate heads the Three Compro- 
mises of the Constitution and trace their history as you advance What 
amendments affect these compromises, and how? Had the first com- 
promise any good points except making federation possible? Do you 
think that compromise makes a good foundation for a government? 

c. What is meant by a "government of checks and balances"? 
Point out the checks and balances of the Constitution; note especially 
how far participation of power as well as division of power exists. 

d. What are the joint powers and privileges of the two Houses? 
What the special powers of each House? 



Questions and Topics 255 

e. Point out in what respects the Supreme Court has an authority 
undreamed of in the ancient world and unrivalled in the modern world. 
How is it given control and guarded from interference? How is the 
authority of the Court maintained? What is its weak point? Explain 
in what respects the decisions of the Supreme Court have aided in the 
development of the United States. 

f. Put in note-book as heading, " Minority Control of Government "; 
enter instances with explanations as you proceed. 

g. What is the present ratio of representation to population? \Vhat 
states at present have a smaller population than is expressed in the 
ratio? What effect upon our development has their representation? 

h. In how many respects were the acts of the Federal Convention 
revolutionary? 

i. Who ratified the Constitution, each state singly or the people 
acting for convenience in groups? 

j. Draw an imaginary picture of results if the North had not com- 
promised on slavery. Can you justify the action of the North? 

Historical Geography 

a. Represent upon an Outline Map the western claims and the 
actual cessions to the United States of Massachusetts, Connecticut, 
New York, Virginia, the Carolinas, and Georgia. 

b. Make any necessary changes in the map of your state. 

c. Explain by recitation the map and changes you have made. 

General Questions 

a. Has the Constitution established a federal government or a 
national government? 

b. Distinguish between " inherent," " delegated," and " implied " 
powers and tell when each kind exists. 

c. Point out in the Constitution the powers " delegated," " prohib- 
ited," or "reserved." 

d. Which country, the United States or Great Britain, has the more 
conservative constitution? Why? 

e. Our self-control in allowing laws maae by representative bodies 
to be annulled by the Supreme Court has been much admired : how 
do you account for this self-control? 

' Topics for Investigation 

(See directions under this head on p. 48.) 

a. Compare Franklin's Plan with the Albany Plan and with the 
Constitution (216, 119, 239). 



256 The Constitution 

b. Compare the Articles of Confederation with the other plans and 
with the Constitution. 

€. Make a topical analysis of the Articles; do the same with the 
Constitution. 

d. Make a topical analysis of the Ordinance of 1 787; note espe- 
cially points of resemblance to the Constitution (225, last reference*. 

*. Make a topical analysis of the several attempts to amend the 
Articles (232, last reference of first group). 

f. Compare the arguments of Madison and of Henry (251). 

g. Show how far the Constitution meets the requirements of Wash- 
ington's letter to the governors (211, 239), 



As preparation for the next chapter study the lives of Washington, 
John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and Alexander Hamilton, under the 
following heads : personal appearance, temperament, mental endow- 
ments, moral nature, social position, political principles, popular 
regard, influence in shaping United States history. 



CHAPTER VII 

THE FEDERALIST SUPREMACY, 1789-1800 

Books for Consultation 

General Readings. — Johnston's American Po/i^ics, 19-54; Higgia- 
son's Laj-ger History, 309-344; Hart's Formation 0/ the Union, 141- 
175; Walker's Making of the Nation, 73-167. 

Special Accounts. — Wilson's Presidents ; Lodge's Washington 
(S. S.); ?>w.mnQr's Hamilton (M. A.); 'S>cho\x\e.r's Jefferson (M.A.) ; 
Pellew's/ay (M. A.); *McMaster's United States : Schouler's United 
States; *Von Hoist's Constitutional History; *Hildreth's United 
States; *Taussig's Tariff History ; \^2iXntA's History for Ready Refer- 
ence. Larger biographies of the leading statesmen, Guide, § 25. 

Sources. — Cooper and Fenton, American Politics; American His- 
tory Leaflets; Johnston's American Orations; Old South Leaflets; 
Preston's Documents ; Stedman and Hutchinson, Library of Ameri- 
can Literature ; MacDonald's Documents ; Benton's Abridgment; 
Williams's Statesman's Manual. Writings of the leading statesmen, 
Guide, §§ 32, 33. 

Bibliography. — Channing and Hart, Guide to American History, 
§§ 56a, 56b (General Readings), §§ 157-166 (Topics and References). 

Illustrative Material. — A. L. Lowell's Essays on Government; 
Upham's Timothy Pickering; Austin's Gerry; Flanders's Chief Jus- 
tices ; Sullivan's Familiar Letters; Maclay's Journal; J. Adams's 
Diary; '^\i2\Qx's Kentucky ; Y)x2i^&\ Making of the West ; Roosevelt's 
Winning of the West; American History told by Contemporaries. 

Brackenridge's Modern Chivalry; Brown's Arthur Mervyn; 
Cooke's L^eather Stocking and Silk; Kennedy's Swallow Barn; 
Arlo Bates's Old Salem ; "A Girl's Life Eighty Years Ago" in Scrib- 
ner's- ATagazine, May, 1887 ; Goodrich's Recollections of a Lifetime; 
Gayarre's Aubert Dubayet. 

THE FEDERALIST SUPREMACY, 1 789-1800 

190. Washington elected President. — The Federal Con- Diiatoriness 
vention made its report to Congress in September, 1787, and of Congress, 
the ninth state, New Hampshire, voted to ratify the Con- ^^ ^' 

257 



258 



The Federalist Supremacy 



L§ 191 



Election of 

Washington. 

Schouler's 

United 

States, 1,79; 

*Stan\vood's 

Elections, 

I-16. 



Adams and 

Hamilton. 

Schouler's 

United 

States, I, 

80-82. 



stitution on June 21, 1788 ; but it was not until April 30, 
1789, that George Washington took the oath of office as 
first President of the United States. The Congress of the 
Confederation had set an earUer date, March 4, for the 
mauguration ; but the men of that day were accustomed to 
being late. It was not until another month had passed away 
that a quorum of both houses of the first Congress under the 
Constitution was in attendance to count the electoral ballots, 
and ascertain the choice of the electors for President and 
Vice-President. 

No one had the slightest doubt as to the fittest man for 
the presidency ; every elector voted for Washington.. That 
great man was now in his fifty-eighth year. One of the 
richest men in America and the foremost leader of the Vir- 
ginia aristocracy, he represented the best elements in Ameri- 
can society of that time ; for the framework of society was 
still aristocratic, although the tendency was distinctly toward 
democracy. In politics, Washington can scarcely be said to 
have belonged to any party at this time. He had entered 
most heartily into the plan for the formation of a national 
government ; but he was not a man to think deeply on theo- 
ries of government. He was rather a man of action and an 
administrator. The necessity of the hour was a stronger 
central government : to attain that important object, Wash- 
ington was anxious to use every proper means at his com- 
mand and to employ the services of leading men of all 
shades of pohtical belief. 

191. John Adams elected Vice-President. — For second 
place there was no such unanimity of opinion as in the case 
of Washington. The foremost candidate was John Adams 
of Massachusetts. He had been one of the leaders in the 
earlier days of the Revolution, and had later represented 
the United States abroad, especially in England. Unfor- 
tunately, he had written a book in which, among other 
things, he suggested that " the rich, the well-born, and the 
able," should be set apart from other men in a Senate. 
The proposal to elevate " the rich " and " the able " did not 



J(jimJii/mw 



1789] Political Tendencies 259 

arouse much opposition ; but the use of the phrase " the 
well-born " greatly injured Adams's popularity. As the Con- 
stitution then stood, each elector voted for two persons with- 
out stating which of them he wished to be President. The 
one who received most votes should be President, provided 
he received a majority ; the person receiving the next high- 
est number should be Vice-President. The elevation of " the 
well-born " would 
have been most wel- 
come to Alexander 
Hamilton ; but he 
conceived the idea that Adams might receive more votes 
than Washington, and intrigued to prevent it. The scheme 
became known to Adams, and proved to be the beginning 
of a long and unfortunate quarrel, which had most serious 
consequences for the party of which Adams and Hamilton 
soon became the chiefs. 

192. Political Tendencies, 1789. — There were no political Political 
parties in the United States in 1 789 ; but the political leaders tendencies 
and the voters were divided in precisely the manner in 
which they had been during the contest over the ratifi- 
cation of the Constitution. No sooner was the task of 
reorganization begun than these different views showed 
themselves. Two men were soon recognized as the leaders 
of these opposing camps, and may be considered as rep- 
resenting in their own persons the ideas that were held by 
the two political parties in the earlier portion of our history 
under the Constitution. The first of these tendencies ex- 
pressed itself in the desire to promote the welfare of the 
individual, to give him greater political power, more com- 
forts in life, greater intelligence, and in general to raise 
the more ignorant and ruder portion of society. The second 
declared itself in the wish to make the welfare of the indi- 
vidual depend on the growth of the nation and to rely for 
support on " the well-born," the intelligent, and the richer 
portion of the community. With the former of these 
tendencies was identified Thomas Jefferson, Washington's 



26o 



The Federalist Supremacy 



[§192 



Thomas 

Jefferson. 

Schouler'; 

United 

States, 

I. 189; 

*Morse's 

Jefferson 

(S. S.). 



Secretary of State ; with the latter, Alexander Hamilton, 
Washington's Secretary of the Treasury. 

Thomas Jefferson, the author of the Summary View and 
the Declaration of Independence and representative of the 
United States in France, was now in the prime of life. 
In many ways he was one of the most extraordinary men 
America has produced. An aristocrat by birth and breed- 
ing, the owner of slaves, and the designer of and dweller in 
one of the most elegant mansions of that day, he was the 




Monticello, Jefferson s mans*on 

leader of democracy, the champion of the rights of man, and 
the persistent, though powerless, advocate of slave eman- 
cipation. When President, he seemed to enjoy shocking 
the prejudices of very particular persons : Washington had 
established stately ceremonials, Jefferson conducted official 
gathenngs on the principle of " pell-mell " — each guest 
doing pretty much as he pleased ; Washington had driven 
in coach and four to and from the halls of Congress, Jeffer- 
son rode on horseback, unattended, from the White House 
to the Capitol and hitched his horse with his own hands in 



1789] 



Political Tendencies 



261 



a neighboring shed. More curious still, Jefferson, a man of 
unpractical ideas, was the shrewdest political leader of his 
day. Shy, reluctant to attend crowded meetings, and with- 
out magnetism, he led the masses and won the greatest 
popularity in one of the most difficult periods of our history. 
In person Jefferson was tall, six feet two inches in height, 
with sandy hair and a most sunny countenance. He was 
ungainly in figure and seemed always " to be jumping out 
of his clothes," and he sat or reclined on one hip in a 
manner which impressed at least one keen observer who 
has described him. 

Unlike Jefferson in every respect, Alexander Hamilton was 
small in stature and was always well-dressed. A great ad- 
ministrator and capable of attracting men by his personal 
qualities, he led his party to a most crushing defeat. His 
success in organizing the machinery of the government en- 
titles him to the gratitude of the nation, and the part he 
played in securing the ratification of the Constitution gives 
him a foremost place in the annals of the United States. He 
deserves the more credit for this, perhaps, because he had 
no faith that the new Constitution would provide a sufficient 
government for the country. In 1802 he wrote: "Perhaps 
no man . . . has sacrificed or done more for the present 
Constitution than myself; and, contrary to all my anticipa- 
tions of its fate ... I am still laboring to prop the frail 
and worthless fabric. . . . Every day proves to me more 
and more this American world was not made for me." In 
these sentences may be found the reason for the politico ■ 
failure of Hamilton and his friends. He had no sympathy 
with the desires of the masses for self-improvement. He 
had no confidence in their ability to conduct successfully 
the affairs of the country. In one noted phrase he. stated 
the reason of his failure as a political chief. It was at 
a dinner when, replying to some remark that had been 
made, Hamilton declared : " Sir, your people is a great 
beast." But it was the people that must govern under the 
Constitution, or republican government vwas a failure. Far 



Alexander 

Hamilton. 

Schouler's 

United 

States, 

I, 186; 

Sumner's 

Hamilton 

(M. A.). 



262 



The Federalist Supremacy 



[§193 



Washing- 
ton's inaugu- 
ration, 1789. 
Schouler's 
United 
States, I, 
84-90 : 
Old South 
Leaflets, V, 
No. 8, Gen. 
Ser. No. 10. 



Fears of 

monarchical 

tendencies. 

Schouler's 

United 

States, I. 

126-140. 



Otherwise was Jefferson's view of the people. In a letter 
written in 1787 he said: "I am persuaded that the good 
sense of the people will always be found the best army. 
They may be led astray for a moment, but will soon correct 
themselves." The Federalist party endeavored so to frame 
the governmental machinery that a minority of the people 
could govern the majority ; the attempt ended in disaster. 

193. Washington's Inauguration, 1789. — Washington 
"bade adieu," to use his own words, " to Mount Vernon, to 
private life, and to domestic felicity ; and with a mind op- 
pressed with more anxious and painful sensations than I have 
words to express," set out for New York to take the oath 
of office as the first President of the United States. The 
cheers which greeted him on his journey did not lessen his 
sense of the deep responsibiUties which surrounded him. 
His inaugural was especially solemn : he addressed " fer- 
vent supplications to that Almighty Being who rules over 
the universe . . . that his benediction may consecrate to 
the liberties and happiness of the people of the United 
States, a government instituted by themselves, . . . and 
may enable every instrument employed in its administration 
to execute with success the functions allotted to his charge." 

Colonial customs and traditions derived from Enghsh 
precedents were still iiie ruie. VVasftrngton, mclined to 
be stiff and formal, instituted a rigid ceremoniousness in 
official intercourse which seemed little like republicanism. 
During the recesses of Congress, he traveled around the 
country in an almost regal fashion. Everywhere he was 
enthusiastically received : at one place he was greeted 
with "God bless your reign"; at another he was hailed 
as " Columbia's Savior." At Boston, however, John Han- 
cock, governor of Massachusetts, endeavored to uphold the 
dogma of state sovereignty by refusing to make the first call ; 
but usually the stiffest Anti-Federalists forgot their consti- 
tutional scruples and heartily joined to do honor to "The 
President." All these things, however, when coupled with 
Hamilton's well-known predilection for a government mod- 




George Washington 
After a mask made from the living face, 1 785 



264 



The Federalist Supremacy 



[§ 194 



First Tariff 
Act, 1789. 
Schouler's 
United 
States, I, 
96-102. 



eled on that of Great Britain in the days of the unreformed 
Parliament, convinced many men that the restoration of the 
monarchical form was the aim of the Federalists. Probably 
the charge was not true in any case. 

1 94. Organization of the Government. — On April 8, weeks 
before Washington took the oath of office, Madison intro- 
duced a resolution in the House of Representatives which 
led to the first debate upon protection, and finally to 
the formation of the first tariff act. This law, which Wash- 




A room at Mount Vernon 



ington signed shortly after the inauguration, proved insuffi- 
cient to provide the necessary funds, and the rates were 
increased in 1 790 and again in 1 792. A Tonnage Act, which 
was passed at about the same time, provided for a discrimi- 
nation in favor of goods imported in American vessels and 
excluded foreign vessels from the coastwise trade. It was 
further suggested that vessels flying the flags of nations not 



1789] Organization of the Government 265 

having commercial treaties with the United States should be 
taxed more heavily than vessels belonging to more friendly 
countries. This bill was aimed especially at the foreign 
shipping interest ; but the influence of merchants engaged 
in commerce with Great Britain was exerted to defeat the 
proposal, and the attempt was abandoned. 

Congress then turned its attention to the organization of Executive 
the new government. Five administrative departments were departmenta 

1 1 ■ 1 z' 1 1 1 • 1 organized. 

created : the state department, which at first had to do with schouler's 

both home and foreign affairs; the treasury; the war depart- United 

ment, which also managed the trifling naval affairs for the ^'^^'^> < 
' ° ° 103-106. 

next few years ; the department of justice, at the head of 

which was the Attorney-General ; and the post office. The 
heads of these departments were appointed by the President 
with the consent of the Senate, but they were removable by 
him without action by the Senate (see p. 246) ; it had been 
proposed to make the Secretary of the Treasury responsible 
to Congress, but this proposal had been abandoned. The 
first four of these departmental heads acted as the Presi- 
dent's advisers ; the Postmaster-General remaining for the 
present outside of what was termed the cabinet. In thinking 
of this organization and using the words " advisers " and 
" cabinet," the student should always carefully bear in mind 
that the President is not obliged in the smallest degree to 
follow their advice or even to ask it. Congress further 
made provision for the appointment of collectors of the 
customs, district attorneys, and other officials to carry on 
the business of the government. 

Congress also provided for the organization of the The 
Judiciary. The Supreme Court comprised a Chief Justice Judiciary 

1,- , . ,• II- T- organized. 

and five Associate Justices, and thirteen district courts schouier's 
were established. Between the district courts and the United 
Supreme Court were the circuit courts, three in number; *^^^"' • ^°7 
they were held by justices of the Supreme Court and the 
judges of the district courts. Provision was made for 
the appointment of the necessary officials, as marshals, 
who held office for four years; in this latter enactment. 



266 



The Federalist Supremacy 



[§ 195 



Hamilton's 
report on 
finances. 
Schouler's 
United 
States, I, 
144-149 ; 
MacDonald's 
Documettts, 
Xos. 6, 8. 



Hamilton's 
plan. 



some Students see the germ of the spoils system which was 
later developed by the extension of this limited tenure of 
office to all of the less important positions in the executive 
branch (p. 390). 

195. Hamilton's Financial Measures. — In January, 1 790, 
Hamilton, the new Secretary of the Treasury, presented to 
Congress an elaborate report on the public credit, which 

should be carefully 
studied by all who 
desire to understand 
Hamilton's clear in- 
sight into financial 
matters, and to ap- 
preciate, at their full 
value, the great ser- 
vices he rendered to 
his adopted country. 
It appeared that the 
United States, as the 
successor of the 
Confederation, owed 
about fifty-four mil- 
lion dollars in prin- 
cipal and accrued 
but unpaid interest. 
Eleven millions of 
this was owed abroad. As to this portion, which was gen- 
erally termed the "foreign debt," all agreed with the 
secretary that it should be paid in full according to the 
terms of the original contracts. As to the larger portion, 
which was owed to citizens of the United States,' — the 
"domestic debt," as it was called, — there was no such 
unanimity of opinion. There had been hardly any market 
at all for these obligations; holders had been fortunate to 
sell their holdings at one fifth of the face value. Hamilton 
proposed to fund this part of the debt at par; but to this 
proposal there was much opposition. It was argued that 




Mrs. Alexander Hamilton 



179°] 



Hamilton s Financial Measures 



267 



this arrangement would be unjust to the original holders of 
these certificates who had received them in payment for sup- 
plies furnished to the Revolutionary armies, or for services 
rendered to the country at the time of its greatest need. 
Madison suggested that the present holders should be paid 
the highest market price for their certificates, and that the 
difference between that amount and the face value of the 
bonds should be paid 
to the original hold- 
ers. Hamilton in- 
sisted, however, that 
to secure the credit 
of the new govern- 
ment it was essential 
that the full face value 
of the certificates 
should be paid to 
those who possessed 
the legal title. This 
was sound practical 
sense, and Hamil- 
ton's plan was adopt- 
ed. A further part of 
the secretary's scheme 
provided that the 
United States should 

assume and fund, as a part of its own debt, certain por- 
tions of the debts of the several states. On this question, 
however, the interests of the North and of the South were 
different, as, for one reason or another, the Northern states 
were burdened wit'h much larger debts than were the 
Southern states. The measure commended itself to Ham- 
ilton and to those who thought with him, because its car- 
rying out would interest a large number of persons in the 
stability of the new government, and would compel the 
United States to exercise extensive powers of taxation; but 
this centralization of power was disliked by those who 




Alexander Hamilton 



Assumption 

of state 

debts. 

Schouler's 

United 

States, I, 

149-152. 



268 



The Federalist Supremacy 



[§196 



Site of the 

federal 

capital. 

Schouler's 

United 

States, I, 

152-154- 



viewed with jealousy the subordination of the states to 
the federal government. North Carolina ratified the 
Constitution in November, 1789, her representatives took 
their seats in Congress in time to vote against the proj- 
ect, and it' was defeated by a small majority (April, 
1790). The issue now became bound up with the de- 
cision of another question, — the permanent seat of the 
national capital. 

196. The National Capital and Assumption. — Toward 
the close of the Revolutionary War three hundred Pennsyl- 
vania soldiers had surrounded the building in which Con- 
gress held its sessions, and demanded the immediate redress 
of their grievances. The executive council of Pennsylvania 
was appealed to, and declined to interfere to protect Con- 
gress from annoyance. It was largely owing to this that 
the framers of the Constitution inserted a provision in that 
instrument which gave the federal government complete 
control over a district ten miles square, within which a 
national capitol and other buildings might be erected. 
The question of the precise location of this small district 
does not appear to be a matter of much importance in these 
days of rapid transit. In 1790, however, the Potomac was, 
to all intents and purposes, as far from Boston as San Fran- 
cisco is nowadays and Philadelphia was much more inac- 
cessible to the South Carolinian than Denver is at the 
present time. The Southern members of Congress were 
anxious to have the permanent seat of government on the 
Potomac, and the Pennsylvanians were equally desirous 
that Philadelphia should be the temporary seat of govern- 
ment while the necessary buildings were in the process of 
construction on the Potomac. Many "Northern members, 
who had slight interest in this matter, were deeply con- 
cerned in the success of the project of assumption of the 
state debts; they believed that the Pennsylvanians, who 
had voted against the latter measure, had made a bargain 
of some kind with the Southerners. The friends of assump- 
tion, therefore, procured the insertion of Baltimore instead 



I790] 



The First Slavery Debates 



269 



of Philadelphia as the site of the temporary capital, and 
this bill came to a sudden stop. 

It was at this time that Jefferson lent his aid to the suc- 
cessful prosecution of a scheme, the recollection of which 
annoyed him ever after: he yielded to a suggestion of 
Hamilton's that they should bring about a compromise, 
and induced enough Southern members to vote for assump- 
tion to carry that measure, while Hamilton, on his part, 
procured enough Northern votes to pass the Potomac- 
Philadelphia bill. The Assumption Act, in its final form, 
was a much less satisfactory measure than Hamilton's orig- 
inal plan. The latter had provided for the assumption of 
balances of the debt of each state after the sum due by the 
states to the United States had been ascertained; the law, as 
passed, provided, however, for the assumption of a certain 
part of state debts mentioned in the act; in some cases 
it turned out that the amount thus assumed was much too 
large. 

197. The First Slavery Debates, 1789, 1790. — The years 
between the close of the Revolutionary War and the forma- 
tion of the government under the Constitution saw the 
abolition of slavery in several Northern states and the 
formation of plans for gradual emancipation in others (p. 
227); it may truthfully be said that the Northerners were 
opposed to the perpetuation of slavery, although it should 
also be stated that the intensity of this feeling varied greatly 
in different parts of the North. Many of the leaders of 
Virginia — as Washington, Jefferson, and Mason — shared 
in this opinion. South of the Old Dominion, the case was 
widely different. The South Carolinians had threatened 
to stay out of the Union unless their demands as to slavery 
and the slave trade were complied with (p. 239), and the 
North Carolinians, in ceding their claims to western lands 
to the United States (1790), stipulated that Congress should 
make no laws affecting slavery in the territory thus ceded. 

The first slavery debate in Congress arose on the motion 
of a representative from Virginia that the constitutional tax 



Hamilton's 

comproimise 

Schouler's 

United 

States, I, 

154-156. 



Slavery 

debates, 

1789-90. 

Schouler's 

United 

States, I, 

156-163. 



Proposal to 
tax imported 
slaves, 1789, 



2/0 The Federalist Supremacy [§ 197 

of ten dollars per head should be levied on all slaves 
imported into the country. The representatives of the 
states farther south defended slavery in the abstract, and 
accused the Virginians of selfishness in advocating the pro- 
posed tax, the effect of which would be to raise the price 
of Virginia slaves, as they would be in demand in the South 
and would be purchased of the Virginians by the Carolinian 
and Georgian planters. The proposal was dropped at that 
time in consideration of Southern votes for the protective 
tariff, and, as a matter of fact, no tax was ever levied on 
slaves imported. 
Antisiavery The next year the question again came before Congress, 

petitions, ^j^ig \\\x\t in a form much more objectionable to the slave 
1790. ' 

owners. In February, 1790, memorials were presented 

from the Yearly Meeting of the Society of Friends and 
from the Abolition Society of Pennsylvania, whose presi- 
dent was Benjamin Franklin. These petitioners prayed 
Congress to use its constitutional powers to "promote 
mercy and justice" toward the negro, and to "remove 
every obstruction to public righteousness," especially in 
respect to slavery. The Southerners assailed the memorial- 
ists with immense energy; they scented danger from afar, 
and the matter came up when their passions were thoroughly 
aroused by the debates on assumption and on the site of 
the new capital. The most violent of the Southern spokes- 
men was William Jackson of Georgia, an immigrant from 
England, whose vehemence in harangue has probably never 
been exceeded in American deliberative assemblies. The 
MacDonaid's House referred the memorials to a committee, and upon 
Documents, ^^^^ report another debate occurred. Ultimately a few 
very mild statements were entered on the journal of the 
House; among them was a declaration to the effect that 
Congress had no authority to interfere with slavery within 
the states. The subject was then dropped. 
^'"' Three years later (1793) the slaveholders secured the 

fugitive i. ^ ^^^ , . . , ,, . 

Slave act, passage of an act to carry out the provision of the Consti- 
1793. tution (Art. iv) that persons "held to service or labor in 



I79I] 



The Excise and the Bank 



271 



one state . . . escaping into another . . . shall be delivered 
up on claim of the party to whom such service or labor 
may be due." Fugitive slaves had already been restored 
to their masters ; but this act aroused the resentment of 
many persons in the North, and the first case which arose 
under it showed how difficult it is to carry out national 
laws when they are contrary to the sentiment of the peo- 
ple of a state. In this instance, Massachusetts, where the 
fugitives were found, did . not nullify an act of Congress in 
public meeting ;^ but it proved to be practically impossible 
to execute an undoubtedly constitutional law within her 
borders. 

In 1792 Kentucky was admitted to the Union as a slave 
state ; Vermont had been admitted as a free state the year 
before. The northern boundary of Virginia and Kentucky, 
from the Pennsylvania line to the Mississippi, was the Ohio 
River, which in this way served as a boundary between the 
free states and territories of the North and the slaveholding 
states and territories of the South. The Ohio forms prac- 
tically a continuation of Mason and Dixon's line ; indeed, 
the latter term was frequently used to designate simply the 
line between the free and the slave states. 

198. The Excise and the Bank, 1791. — The third and 
last session of the First Congress was held at Philadelphia. 
Two measures then passed were of exceeding interest : a 
bill for raising revenue from an internal revenue tax or 
excise, and a bill establishing a national bank. It will be 
remembered that Hamilton had valued the plan for the 
assumption of state debts because it would necessitate the 
extension of the government's taxing power to other sources 
of revenue than taxes on goods imported from foreign coun- 
tries, and thus would bring into the hands of the federal 
government the great sources of public income. When 
the assumption scheme was passed, he proposed that an 
excise tax of twenty-five cents per gallon should be levied 
on all whiskey manufactured in the United States. This 
rate was very low, and the tax would not bring in much 



Mason and 
Dixon's line 
in the West. 



The Excise 
and the 
Bank, 1791. 
Schouler's 
United 
States, I, 
^73-^77- 



2/2 



The Federalist Supremacy 



[§198 



First Bank of 
the United 
States. 



Constitution- 
ality of the 
measure. 
Schouler's 
United 
States, I, 
176-177 ; 
MacDon- 
ald's 

Documents, 
Nos. 9-11. 



revenue ; but its enforcement would accustom the western 
frontiersmen to federal taxation and to the presence of 
federal officials, and it would make the levying of heavier 
taxes in the future much easier. The bill was stubbornly 
fought in the House ; it was passed against the protests of 
several state legislatures, and it produced a rebellion, — 
the Whiskey Insurrection of 1794. Hamilton's principal 
object was accomplished, however ; the federal government 
had exerted its powers to levy internal taxes and had shown 
its power to suppress rebellion. , 

Hamilton had long favored the establisliraent of a na- 
tional bank. Indeed, during the Revolutionary War, he had 
written to Robert Morris proposing such an institution on 
the ground that it would enlist in that movement the influ- 
ence and interest of men of means and position. He now 
laid before Congress the plan of a national bank, resem- 
bling in many ways the Bank of England. An establish- 
ment of this description would make easier the collection 
and disbursement of the public fiinds. He therefore main- 
tained that it would be constitutional under the clause 
which authorized Congress " to make all laws which shall 
be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the 
foregoing powers," among which was the power "to lay 
y7 and collect taxes . . . 

^7^^^^^ to pay the debts" of 
' r ^ .^ -T^ -v__^^ thg federal government. 

) This view of the force 
of the words "necessary and proper" was disputed in 
Congress, especially by Madison. When the bill came be- 
fore Washington for his approval, he asked the written 
opinions of his advisers. Jefferson argued that the power 
to charter a bank was nowhere granted to Congress by the 
Constitution, and that, according to the Tenth Amendment 
(p. 240), all powers not delegated to the national govern- 
ment were reserved to the states or to the people. This 
opinion and that of Hamilton are well worth reading, as 
they give an admirable idea of the two modes of interpreting 



1790 



Rise of the Repiiblicmi Party 



273 



the Constitution. After some hesitation, Washington ap- 
proved the bill, and twenty-five years afterward Madison, 
as President, signed a similar bill. The capital of the new 
bank thus brought into existence was ten millions, and was 
all subscribed for within two hours. Two parties had been 
formed in the cabinet, however, and from this time on, 
Jefferson and Hamilton, to use the words of the former, 
were " pitted against each other every day in the cabinet, 
like two fighting cocks." Jefferson placed himself at the 
head of the elements of opposition, and with marvelous 
skill welded them into a powerful party. 

199. Rise of the Republican Party. — Jefferson main- 
tained that Hamilton had under his orders in Congress "a 
corrupt squadron " of members, who were willing to do his 
bidding and were well paid for their complacency. There 
were also dark stories in circulation of swift sailing vessels 
dispatched by Hamilton's friends to Southern ports, bear- 
ing agents who bought up the certificates of indebtedness at 
a low rate, before the news of the funding of the debt could 
reach those far-off regions. Whether these stories were 
true or false, it is undoubtedly true that the shrewd men 
of business in the North, who were mostly of Hamilton's 
party, made large profits out of the funding operations, 
at the expense, to a considerable extent, of the Southern 
people. 

The financial measures of the new government were very 
successful, and their success alarmed and irritated many 
persons besides Jefferson. They all led to a great increase 
in the power of the central government and to a correspond- 
ing diminution in the power of the state governments. 
The latter organizations were famifiar to the great mass of 
the people, who understood little of the problems of finance, 
which had been so admirably solved by the Secretary of the 
Treasury. They felt a distrust toward the growing power 
of the federal government, and were disposed to insist on 
an interpretation of the Constitution which should be favor- 
able to the continued authority of the states. 



Jefferson 

founds 

Republican 

party. 

Schouler's 

United 

States, I, 

217-233, 

234-237- 



Distrust of 
the gov- 
ernment. 



274 



The Federalist Supremacy 



[§ 200 



The party 
press. 



Influence of 
the French 
Revolution 
on America. 
Schouler's 
UnUed 
States, I, 
262-279. 



Jefferson, personally, was not opposed to the existence of 
a strong national government; as President, he certainly 
never hesitated to use whatever powers the Constitution 
could be construed to give him, and some powers, indeed, 
which no construction could read into that document 
(p. 315); but he objected strenuously to the exercise of 
those functions by Hamilton and his allies. With his love 
of individual liberty, he saw the government every day 
trenching more and more on the rights of the individual. 
He thoughc he saw a determination to build up a strong gov- 
ernment resembling a monarchy, if not a monarchy itself. 
He lost no opportunity to bring the charge of monarchical 
tendencies home to his opponents; for himself, he stood 
for republican principles, and the party which gathered 
about him gradually assumed the name of Republican. 
Hamilton and his followers continued to bear the desig- 
nation — so ill befitting them — of Federalists, — a name 
which had proved powerful in the struggle for the ratifica- 
tion of the Constitution. 

Jefferson was the first to recognize the power to be exer- 
cised by the newspaper press. Through his influence was 
established the National Gazette, edited by Philip Freneau, 
a literary man of ability, who occupied the position of 
clerk in Jefferson's department. A furious attack was at 
once begun on Hamilton and the Federalists, in which even 
Washington was not spared. Their defense was feebly 
essayed by the Gazette of the United States. 

200. The Neutrality Proclamation, 1793. — On the first 
day of February, 1793, the French Republic declared 
war against Great Britain, and began a conflict full of 
danger to the United States as well as to the people of 
Europe. Indeed, from this time until 1823, the history 
of the United States was largely influenced by the course 
of events on the other side 6i the Atlantic, and at times it 
may even be said to have been dominated by European 
political complications. Jefferson had been United States 
minister at Paris at the outbreak of the French Revolution; 



1793] The Neutrality Proclamation 275 

he had left France almost immediately afterward, and had 
therefore been personally acquainted with the French Revo- ' 
lution only in its earlier and better period. He sympa- 
thized with the efforts made by the French revolutionary 
leaders to exalt the rights of the individual as against 
the control of government; that was precisely what he was 
laboring to bring about in America. Hamilton, on the 
other hand, distrusted the people, hated democracy, and 
had no sympathy for France. The cabinet was there- 
fore divided on this question as well as on others, and 
for precisely the same reasons. This was the more unfor- 
tunate as the position of the government was full of peril. 
The Treaty of Alliance with France (p. 190) provided that 
each party should guarantee to the other its territorial 
possessions in America. According to the letter of the 
treaty, therefore, the United States was bound to defend 
the French West India Islands against British attacks. 
Washington laid the case before his advisers and asked 
whether the treaty was still in force, in view of the over- 
throw and execution of the French monarch with whom it 
had been made. Jefferson replied that it was still in force. 
According to the political theories contained in the Declara- 
tion of Independence, which form the basis of the American 
political system, the government of a country is merely the 
instrument by which the sovereign power, the people, car- 
ries on its affairs. Bearing this in mind, it is difificult to 
see how he could have given any other answer. To Ham- 
ilton, however, to whom governments were everything 
and the people nothing, the case seemed to be equally 
clear on the other side. Political expediency, nay, the 
existence of the United States, demanded that she should 
not take sides in the tremendous conflict now approaching. The 
Recognizing this, Washington decided to issue a procla- ^eutraiity 
mation of neutrality defining the position of the United tion, 1793. 
States, and warning all American citizens against commit- MacDonaid's 
ting hostile acts in favor of either side (April 22, 1793)- no^^T'*'^'' 
This proclamation is of the very greatest importance in the 



2/6 



The Federalist Supremacy 



l§201 



Genet in 
the United 
States. 



Controversy 
with Great 
Britain, 
1783-93- 



history of the country, as it was then first definitely laid 
down as a policy that the United States was to hold apart 
from the wars and politics of Europe. It proved to be very 
difficult to carry out in practice, and the difficulty was not 
in any way lessened by the conduct of the French agent in 
the United States, the " Citizen Genet." 

Genet landed at Charleston on April 8 and at once began 
to fit out warhke expeditions, as if the United States were 
French soil : he armed privateers, commissioned thein, and 
directed their masters to send prizes into United States 
ports for condemnation. He then set out for Philadelphia, 
and his journey resembled a triumphal progress. Clubs 
were formed on the model of the Jacobin Club of Paris, 
and extreme democratic ideas were zealously cultivated. 
Fortunately, however, Genet was a very imprudent man, 
and soon mixed himself up in actions which justified the 
government in asking for his recall. This request was at 
once granted ; for the party that had sent him to America 
was no longer in power in France, but had been replaced 
by a much more radical element. Curiously enough, it 
does not appear that Genet, or Fauchet his successor, called 
upon the government to fulfill the provisions of the treaty, — 
a demand which would have been very awkward to meet. 

The Federalists at once endeavored to disgrace their 
opponents by calling them democrats ; and the Republi- 
cans charged the Federalists with leanings toward England, 
and branded them as the British party. There was some 
truth in this latter contention, as the Federalist party 
was strong in the commercial centers of the North, whose 
trade was mainly with Great Britain. Notwithstanding 
their fierce and growing dissensions, Jefferson and Hamil- 
ton both implored Washington to serve another term ; he 
was unanimously re-elected, and John Adams again became 
Vice-President (1792). 

201. Relations with Great Britain, 1783-94. — The treaty 
of peace of 1783 had secured the independence of the 
United States and had given it adequate boundaries; but 



1794] Relations with Great Britain 277 

it had left unsettled many weighty questions, and some of 
its more important provisions had not been faithfully ob- 
served. For instance, legal obstacles had been placed in 
the way of the collection of debts incurred before the Revo- 
lution (p. 228), and Great Britain had refused to surrender 
many posts _ in the northwest, whose retention was a 
standing threat to the settlers in that region. The British 
had also taken away large numbers of slaves contrary to 
the treaty, according to the American interpretation of it 
(p. 229). The controversy had reached a dangerous point, 
where slight additional irritation on either side might easily 
lead to war ; and, on the other hand, the United States was 
now in a position to enforce its treaty obligations. 

Meantime, the war between France and Great Britain France, 
had given rise to another cause of complaint. In May, GreatBntam, 
1793, the French ordered the capture and condemnation of Neutrals, 
neutral vessels carrying provisions to British ports, on the 1793-. 
ground that provisions were contraband of war, or goods 
which could not be supplied to a belligerent except at the 
risk of seizure by the other belligerent. The British gov- 
ernment soon adopted a similar policy. In those days 
there also existed an agreement between the leading Euro- 
pean powers to the effect that a neutral could not enjoy in 
time of war a trade which was prohibited to it in time of 
peace. This was called the Rule of War of 1756, or, more 
briefly, the Rule of 1756. The Americans were not allowed 
to trade with the French West Indies in time of peace, but 
as soon as the war broke out those ports were opened to 
them. In November, 1793, the British put this rule in 
force against American shipping. As the Americans were 
not permitted to trade with the British West Indies, this 
action practically closed the commerce of that region to 
them. With the outbreak of the war, another and even 
more irritating contention arose over the right of the Brit- 
ish to stop American vessels on the high seas and remove 
from them British seamen for service in British men-of- 
war; the more serious phase of this impressment contro- 



2/8 



The Federalist Supremacy 



[§202 



Jay's Treaty, 
1794. 
Winsor's 
America, 
VII, 466- 

471; 

Schouler's 
United 
States, I, 
304-311 



versy will be considered later on (p. 323). Affairs had 
reached a point where war seemed certain. In March, 
1794, Congress laid an embargo for thirty days on shipping 
in American ports, which was afterwards extended for an- 
other thirty days. A bill was also brought in providing for 
non-intercourse with Great Britain, and was defeated in the 
Senate only by the casting vote of the Vice-President, A 
word from Washington, and the nation would have cheer- 
fully plunged into war. 

202. Jay's Treaty, 1794. — Washington determined to 

make one more effort to 
settle these questions 
peaceably; he appointed 
John Jay, Chief Justice 
of the United States, 
minister to Great Britain 
to negotiate a new treaty. 
Probably a better choice 
could not have been 
made. Jay had had 
much experience in dip- 
lomatic affairs, was a 
man of the highest hon- 
esty, and one of the 
least self-interested men 
in public life. After a long and difficult negotiation, 
he signed a treaty (1794) whose publication at once 
aroused fierce animosity in the United States. By this 
instrument the British government agreed to turn over the 
posts on June i, 1796; joint commissions were to be 
appointed to settle the question of debts, the indemnity 
for the negroes who were taken away, and to determine 
boundary disputes on the northeastern frontier; but on the 
questions of neutral trade and impressment the British gov- 
ernment would not yield. The most objectionable provi- 
sion of the treaty was the twelfth article. This opened the 
ports of the British West Indies to American vessels, pro- 




John Jay 



1794] 



Ratification of Jay's Treaty 



279 



vided that they were under seventy tons, and on the further 
condition that during the continuance of the treaty (twelve 
years) the United States would not export molasses, sugar, 
coffee, cocoa, or cotton to any part of the world. 

203. Ratification of Jay's Treaty, 1795. — The announce- 
ment of the terms of the treaty was the signal for an outburst 
' )f indignation. A stuffed figure of Jay was burned, the British 
flag was dragged in 
the dirt, the British 
minister was in- 
sulted, and Wash- 
ington was abused 
in language that 
he declared "could 
scarcely be applied 
to a Nero, to a no- 
torious defaulter, or 
even to a common 
pickpocket." It was 
only with the greatest 
difficulty that the 
Senate could be in- 
duced to give its 
consent to the treaty 
without the twelfth 
article. In the House 
of Representatives 

there was also a fierce conflict, for money was needed to carry 
out the provisions of the treaty. After a long debate, the 
House passed a resolution calling on the President for the 
papers relating to the negotiation. This demand Washington 
refused, on the ground that the House of Representatives 
was not a part of the treaty-making power. Finally, the 
House gave way, largely in consequence of pressure brought 
to bear upon Northern members by their constituents in the 
commercial centers of the North ; and by a vote of forty-eight 
to forty-one the necessary appropriation bills were passed. 




Controversy 
over its 
ratification. 
Schouler's 
United- 
States, I, 

323-329 ; 

Johnston's 
Orations, I, 
84-130. 



Mrs. John Jay 



28o 



The Federalist Supremacy 



[§204 



Controversy 
with Spain, 

1783-95- 
Winsor's 
America, 
VII, 476. 



Treaty of 
1795- 



Controversy 
with France. 
Winsor's 
America, 
VII, 471; 
Schouler's 



The best that can be said of Jay's treaty is that it postponed 
the second war with Great Britain for many years. The 
immediate consequence was to increase the feeling of dis- 
satisfaction with the Federalists. Even in Virginia Wash- 
ington lost much of his former popularity; the legislature 
of that state refused to pass a vote of undiminished confi- 
dence in its greatest son. 

204. Relations with Spain and France, 1794-97. — Ac- 
cording to the treaties of 1763 and 1783, the United States 
enjoyed the right to the free navigation of the Mississippi 
(p. 209) and had a strong claim to territory as far south as 
the thirty-first parallel- (p. 229). It proved to be very 
difficult to secure possession of the land bordering on the 
Mississippi south of the Yazoo, as the Spaniards contended 
that Britain, in ceding to her "the Floridas," had ceded 
them with the boundaries under which they were actually 
governed at the time of the Spanish occupation (p. 229). 
The Spaniards also intrigued with the settlers in Kentucky 
and Tennessee. The right of the United States to the free 
navigation of the Mississippi could not well be denied, but 
the free navigation of the great river was of slight value 
unless the Americans possessed the further privilege of 
using some portion of the river's banks within Spanish terri- 
tory for the purpose of transferring cargo from river-going 
craft to vessels capable of navigating the ocean. In 1795 
Thomas Pinckney negotiated a treaty with Spain, by which 
that power agreed to designate "a place of deposit" within 
her territory where goods might be stored free of duty while 
awaiting transshipment, and she acknowledged the claim of 
the United States as to the boundary to be valid; but it 
was several years before the posts within the territory thus 
conceded were handed over to the United States. With 
France matters did not proceed so satisfactorily. 

The French government was greatly exasperated by the 
conclusion of the treaty with Great Britain, as war between 
that power and the United States was thereby made improb- 
able. The American minister at Paris, James Monroe, a 



1797] 



Election of John Adams 



281 




Virginian of the Jeffersonian school, instead of doing his 
utmost to smooth away these feelings of resentment, seems 
to have shared them himself; he also made no attempt 
to press the 
claims of 
America for 
damages for 

the unjustifiable seizure of vessels by the French. Wash- 
ington recalled him, and sent in his place Charles C. 
Pinckney of South Carolina, whom the French government 
refused to receive (February, 1797). 

205. Washington's Farev^r ell Address, 1797. — Toward the 
close of his second term, Washington decided to retire from 
the presidency, and by declining to be a candidate for re- 
election, set a precedent which has ever since been followed. 
He announced this determination in a masterly Farewell 
Address, which is still full of instruction for the American 
people. He earnestly besought his countrymen to foster the 
government recently established and to preserve the public 
credit. As to the outer world, he wished his fellow-citizens 
first of all to be Americans, and to avoid taking sides with 
foreign nations : " It is our true policy to steer clear of per- 
manent alliances v/ith any portion of the foreign world. . . . 
I hold the maxim no less applicable to public than to pri- 
vate affairs, that honesty is always the best policy. . . . 

"Harmony and a liberal intercourse with all nations are 
recommended by policy, humanity, and interest." 

206. Election of John Adams, 1796. — The choice of 
Washington's successor proved to be a matter of some 
difificulty. Jefferson was the undoubted leader of the Re- 
publicans, and he became their candidate. There was no 
such unanimity of opinion among the Federalists: Hamil- 
ton was the real leader of the party, but he was very unpopu- 
lar and could not possibly have been elected; John Jay 
would have been Hamilton's choice for the place, but 
his connection with the negotiation of Jay's treaty 
made him an impossible candidate. Under the circum- 



United 
States, I, 
332-341- 



Wash- 
ington's 
retirement. 
Old South 
Leaflets, Gen. 
Ser. No. 4; 
Stedman and 
Hutchinson, . 
Ill, 162. 



Election of 
1796. 

Schouler's 
United 
States, 1 , 34!^ 

347-349 ; 
*Stanwood's 
Elections, 
24-29. 



282 



The Federalist Supremacy 



[§ 206 



stances, John Adams was the only candidate whom the 
Federalists could put forward with a fair chance of success. 
But Hamilton sought by an unworthy political trick to 
secure the election to the first place of Thomas Pinckney, 
the nominal candidate for the vice-presidency. Adams 
was popular with the rank and file of the Federalist 

party, although he was 
disliked by some of the 
leaders. The result was 
that to insure the choice of 
Adams, a number of Fed- 
eralist electors threw away 
their second votes, and thus- 
brought about the election 
of Jefferson to the second 
place instead of Pinck- 
ney. Jefferson, indeed, 
showed the most unex- 
pected strength, and Adams 
was chosen President by 
three votes only over his 
Republican rival, — the 
votes being seventy-one for 
Adams and sixty-eight for 
Jefferson. The Federalists 
kept control of the Senate, 
but the moderate Republicans held the balance of power 
in the House of Representatives. 

Adams, at the outset of his administration, made the 
fatal blunder of retaining Washington's official advisers in 
office. Hamilton had long since retired from the cabinet, 
and the heads of departments were men of fair abilities 
only, and could easily have been replaced. They regarded 
Hamilton as their chief and intrigued against Adams from 
the beginning to the end of his term of office. Beset by 
these difficulties at home, Adams had a most arduous task 
in the settlement of the troubles with France. 




Election of 1796 



1797] 



Breach with France 



283 



'207. Breach with France, 1796-99. — The new President 
had scarcely assumed office when news arrived that Pinck- 
ney had been sent away from Paris. Adams determined, 
however, to make another effort to renew friendly relations 
with the former ally of America. He appointed a com- 
mission, consisting of Elbridge Gerry, a Massachusetts 
Republican, John Marshall, a Virginia Federalist, and 
Charles C. Pinckney, the rejected minister, to go to France 
and endeavor to preserve peace with the French Republic, 
now under the government of the Directory. The commis- 
sioners met with a most extraordinary reception at Paris 
(October, 1797). Agents came to them whose names were 
disguised in the dispatches under the letters X, Y, and Z. 
They demanded money as the price of receiving the Ameri- 
cans. This was refused, and the commissioners were 
directed to leave France. An attempt was made, however, 
to negotiate separately with Gerry, who was regarded as 
representing the Jeffersonian party. News traveled slowly 
in those days, and it was March, 1798, before Adams com- 
municated to Congress the failure of this ill-starred commis- 
sion. In June the President closed a message to Congress 
with the assertion that he would " never send another min- 
ister to France without assurances that he would be received, 
respected, and honored as the representative of a great, free, 
powerful, and independent nation." 

Instantly, there was a change of feehng in Congress. 
The Federalists gained control of both houses, and pushed 
forward preparations for defense. A new army organiza- 
tion was begun, with Washington in nominal command; 
but the real direction of military affairs was intrusted to 
Hamilton, who was forced on the President by Washington 
as the price of his own co-operation. The building of a 
navy, which had already been begun during recent disputes 
with the piratical states of northern Africa, was now 
pushed on with vigor. Many of the new vessels did 
excellent service. In their home policy, however, the 
Federalists committed grave blunders. 



Commis- 
sioners sent 
to France, 
1797. 

Schouler's 
U?iited 
States, I, 
358-367- 



The X, Y, Z 

affair. 

Winsor's 

America, 

VII, 472; 

Schouler's 

United 

States, I, 

385-398. 



Preparations 
for war. 
Schouler's 
United 
States, I, 
415-422. 



Maclay's 
Navy, I, 
155-213- 



284 



The Federalist Supremacy 



[§2o8 



Restrictive 

legislation, 

1798. 

Schouler's 

United 

States, I, 

404-410 ; 

American 

History 

Leaflets, 

No. 15. 



208. Alien and Sedition Acts, 1798. —These acts were 
the outcome of an exaggerated fear of the Republicans on 
the part of the Federalists; even Washington, who was now 
a strict party man, whatever he may have been in his earlier 
years, proposed to prevent Republicans from joining the 
army of which he was the head. The first law against 

aliens was the Natu- 
ralization Act (June 
18, 1798), raising 
the period of resi- 
dence preliminary to 
naturalization from 
five to fourteen years. 
The second law (June 
25, 1798), which is 
usually cited as the 
Alien Act, authorized 
the President to 
order any aliens "he 
shall judge danger- 
ous to the peace 
and safety of the 
United States, or 
shall have reasonable 
grounds to suspect 
are concerned in any 
treasonable or secret 
machinations against 
the government thereof, to depart out of the territory of the 
United States" ; or he might, at his discretion, grant an alien 
a "license to . . . remain within the United States for such 
time as he shall judge proper, and at such place as he may 
designate," under such bonds as he may think fit, and he 
might revoke the license at any time. An alien returning 
could be " imprisoned so long as, in the opinion of the Presi- 
dent, the public safety may require. " The third law directed 
against aliens, which is generally cited as the Second Alien 




Mrs John Adams 



1798] 



Alien and Sedition Acts 



285 



Act, authorized the President in time of war "to arrest, 
restrain, secure, and remove as alien enemies all natives 
or subjects of such hostile nation or government as are not 
actually naturalized." The Sedition Act (July 14, 179S) 
made it a crime punishable "by a fine not exceeding five 
thousand dollars and by imprisonment during a term of not 
less than six months 
nor exceeding five 
years " for any per- 
sons to "unlawfully 
combine " with in- 
tent to oppose any 
measure of the gov- 
ernment or to im- 
pede the operation 
of any law, or to in- 
timidate any govern- 
ment official. Fur- 
thermore, any person 
who should write, 
print, utter, or pub- 
lish anything, or 
cause anything to be 
so written or uttered, 
with intent to defame 
the government of 
the United States, 
or to excite unlawful 

combinations, should be punished by a fine not exceed- 
ing two thousand dollars and by imprisonment not ex- 
ceeding two years. The Alien Act was to be in force for 
two years and the Sedition Act until March 3, 1801, the 
end of Adams's term. These Alien and Sedition Acts were 
modeled on similar laws which had recently been passed 
in England, and, with the Naturalization Act, were aimed 
principally against the Republican politicians and news- 
paper writers, many of whom were foreigners. These laws 




John Adams, after a painting by Stuart 



286 



The Federalist Supremacy 



[§ 209 



Effects of 
these laws. 



Kentucky 

Resolutions, 

1798. 

American 

History 

Leaflets, 

No. IS ; 

Schouler's 

United 

States, \, 

433-436. 



were opposed in the House of Representatives by the Re- 
publicans, ably led by Albert Gallatin, an immigrant from 
Switzerland; but their opposition was unavailing. Adams 
seems to have taken slight interest in the matter; he never 
acted under the alien acts, but they cannot be said to have 
been entirely inoperative, as two or three "shiploads" of 
aliens left the country rather than incur the risk of remain- 
ing. The Sedition Act was put into force several times, 
notably against Callender, a Republican newspaper editor. 
Every prosecution under the act was given the greatest 
publicity by the Republicans and lost hundreds, if not thou- 
sands, oi votes to the Federalists. Jefferson also adopted 
the old revolutionary expedient of legislative resolves, in 
order to bring the harsh measures of the Federalists promi- 
nently before the people. 

209. Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions, 1798, 1799. — 
The Kentucky Resolutions, which were the first to be 
adopted, were introduced into the legislature of that state 
by Mr. Breckinridge; their real author, however, was Jeffer- 
son. His original draft contained the logical conclusions 
from the premises of the argument which went beyond 
what the Kentucky legislators were ready to place on record 
in 1798. In 1799, however, they had reached the neces- 
sary pitch of indignation to adopt the whole of Jefferson's 
argument. There are other differences between Jefferson's 
draft and the resolutions as voted either in 179S or 1799. 
It will be convenient to consider the two sets as one, and 
to note one or two of the changes from, the original writing. 
The Resolutions of 1798 open with the statement "that the 
several states composing the United States of America are 
not united on the principle of unlimited submission to their 
general governmen'-; but that by compact under the style 
and title of a constitution . . . they [i] constituted a 
general government for special purposes, delegated to that 
government certain definite powers . . .; and that whereso- 
ever the general government assumes undelegated powers, 
its acts are unauthoritative, void, and are of no force; 



1798] Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions 287 



[2] That to this compact each state acceded as a state, 
and is an integral party, its co-states forming as to itself, 
the other party . . . [3] that as in all other cases of com- 
pact among parties having no common judge, each party 
has a right to judge for itself, as well of infractions as of 
the mode and measure of redress." The Resolutions then 
proceed to state that the acts enumerated in the preceding 
section and an act to punish frauds committed on the Bank 
of the United States, which was passed in June, 1798, are 
altogether void and of no force, as they were contrary to 
the Constitution and the amendments. 

Jefferson's original draft had contained the further state- 
ment " that every state has a natural right in a case not 
within the compact {casus non foederis) to nullify of their 
own authority all assumptions of power by others within 
their limits." This statement was omitted from the Reso- 
lutions of 1798; it appears in those of 1799 in an even 
stronger form : " That the several states who formed that 
instrument [the Constitution] being sovereign and inde- 
pendent, have the unquestionable right to judge of the 
infraction [of that instrument] ; and that a nullification, by 
those sovereignties, of all unauthorized acts done under color 
of that instrument, is the rightful remedy " 

The Virginia Resolutions were drawn by Madison and 
were much milder in tone. They termed the Constitution, 
however, "a compact," and called upon the other states to 
join with Virginia in declaring the Alien and Sedition Acts 
unconstitutional. These Resolutions and the Kentucky 
Resolutions of 1798 were communicated to the other states. 
They evoked strong condemnation from the legislatures of 
the Northern states and received no support from those 
of the Southern states. It is difficult to say what remedy 
Jefferson and Madison desired to see adopted; probably 
nothing more than a new constitutional convention; cer- 
tainly they had no desire to see the Union dissolved, and 
in all probability wished to do nothing more than to place 
the compact theory of the Constitution before the people 



Kentucky 

Resolutions 

of 1799. 

American 

History 

Leaflets, 

No. 15. 



Virginia 

Resolutions, 

1798. 

American 

History 

Leaflets, 

No. 15. 



288 



The Federalist Supremacy 



[§ 210 



Hamilton's 
letter to 
Dayton. 



in a clear and unmistakable manner. In this they suc- 
ceeded, and the Resolutions undoubtedly did much to turn 
the current of public opinion against the authors of the 
Alien and Sedition Acts. 

A letter which Hamilton wrote to Mr. Dayton, the 
Federalist Speaker of the House of Representatives, 
contains an enunciation of the extreme Federalist view, 
and may be regarded, in some measure, as an answer 
to the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions. * Its author 
advocated the cutting up of the states into small divi- 
sions, for the purpose of increasing the number and power 
of the federal courts. He also suggested the adoption 
of an amendment to the Constitution, giving Congress 
the power to divide the larger states into two or more 
states. He further advised the retention of the army on 
its present footing, even if peace should be made with 
France. At this moment, Adams reopened negotiations 
with France, and by concluding a treaty with that country, 
put an abrupt ending to the dreams of Hamilton and his 
friends and widened the breach in the Federalist party 
beyond possibility of repair. 

210. Treaty with France, i8oo. — The publication of the 
X, Y, Z correspondence caused great excitement among 
the governing circles in France. Talleyrand, who had 
States, \, 4,-2^. been at the bottom of the intrigue, saw that he had gone 
too far, and tried to draw back ; he caused a message 
to be conveyed to Vans Murray, American minister to the 
Netherlands, that if the United States would send another 
envoy to France, he would be " received as the represen- 
tative of a great, free, powerful, and independent nation." 
Adams grasped eagerly at the opportunity to bring peace 
to his country. Without consulting his cabinet, he nomi- 
nated Vans Murray as minister to France. The Federalist 
leaders in the Senate, amazed at this change of front, 
seemed determined to reject the nomination, when Adams 
substituted a commission consisting of Oliver Ellsworth, 
Jay's successor as Chief Justice, Patrick Henry, and Vans 



France 
draws back 
Schouler's 
United 



i8oo] 



Treaty ivith France 



289 



Murray; and these nominations were confirmed. Henry, 
now old and infirm, declined to serve, and William R. 
Davie of North Carolina, .another Southern Federalist, was 
appointed in his stead. Adams also seized the first oppor- 
tunity to dismiss the most treacherous of his advisers, and 
substituted John Marshall in place of Timothy Pickering 
as Secretary of State. 
Napoleon Bona- 
parte, as First Con- 
sul, was now at the 
head of affairs in 
France. The com- 
missioners were well 
received, and a 
French commission, 
at the head of which 
was Joseph Bona- 
parte, Napoleon's 
brother, was ap- 
pointed to negotiate 
with them. In many 
respects, the treaty 
thus concluded was 
satisfactory to both 
parties; but Napo- 
leon declined to 

pay for American property seized by the French govern- 
ment or by its agents during the recent troubles, or to 
consent to the formal abandonment of the treaty of 1778. 
These subjects were reserved for future negotiations. The 
United States Senate refused to ratify this part of the 
arrangement. Ultimately, it was agreed. that the United 
States should give up its contention as to the payment of 
claims, and Napoleon consented to regard the treaty of 
1778 as no longer binding. In this way, by the action 
of the Senate, the United States became bound, at least 
morally, to compensate its own citizens for French spolia- 




Timothy Pickering 



The French 

Spoliation 

Claims. 



290 



The Federalist Supremacy 



[§211 



Presidential 

campaign 

of 1800. 

Schouler's 

United 

States, I, 

472-476, 

479-486: 

*Stanwood's 

Elections, 

3^44- 



Hamilton's 
intrigues. 



tions committed prior to 1800, which were thus bartered 
away for the final renunciation of the treaty of 1778 with 
its formidable guarantee of the French West India posses- 
sions. It is only within recent years, however, when legal 
proof has become almost impossible, that Congress has con- 
sented to pay these " French spohation claims." 

211. The Election of 1800. 
— The presidential election 
of 1800 was fought with great 
vigor and with great bitter- 
ness of language and temper. 
John Adams, by his honest 
and patriotic policy, had 
saved the country from a 
disastrous war, and had 
deeply offended the leaders 
of the Federalist party. He 
was still popular with the peo- 
ple, who recognized his fear- 
less honesty and remembered 
his great services during the 
Revolution. He became 
the Federalist candidate for 
the presidency because there 
was no one else to nominate 
with any chance of suc- 
cess. Hamilton, instead of accepting his candidacy with 
good grace and supporting the party candidate with all 
his strength and influence, embarked on a course of petty 
intrigue, similar to the intrigues of 1788 and 1796, which 
have been already described (pp. 259, 282). Charles 
Cotesworth Pinckney of South Carolina was the Federalist 
candidate for second place. It was proposed that the 
South Carolina electors should vote for Pinckney and Jeffer- 
son, in the expectation that the votes thus withdrawn from 
Adams and given to Jefferson would return Adams to 
second place and bring in Pinckney as President. The 




Election of 1800 



i8ooj The Election of iSoo 291 

latter honorably refused to be a party to such a transac- 
tion. Hamilton also sought to discredit Adams by writing 
a long dissertation to show his unfitness for the office of 
chief magistrate. This paper was based on information 
furnished by Oliver Wolcott, who had succeeded Hamilton 
as Secretary of the Treasury. The Republicans obtained 
a copy and gave it the widest publication. The Federalists 
were probably doomed to failure, as the heavy taxes made 
necessary by the preparations for war, and the hatred which 
the prosecutions under the Sedition Act had aroused, had 
converted thousands to the Republican side. That party 
was now thoroughly organized by Jefferson and the other 
leaders, especially Aaron Burr, a disreputable politician, 
who had been nominated for the vice-presidency because 
he controlled the votes of New York. When the electoral 
ballots were counted, it was found that Jefferson and Burr 
had each received seventy-three votes ; Adams, sixty-five ; 
and Pinckney, sixty-four. As the Constitution then stood, 
the electors did not state their preference for President, 
and in case of a tie the House of Representatives, voting 
by states, must elect one of the two highest, President. 

It happened that the Federalists were in a majority in Election of 
the House, both as ordinarily constituted and when voting Jefferson by 
by states. Enraged at their defeat, and embittered beyond schouier's 
all measure with Jefferson, they determined to thwart the f/«/><^ 
will of the people and elect Burr ; for there was no question ^''^^^' ' 
as to which candidate the Republicans desired to have 
President. This was against the advice of Hamilton, who 
distrusted and hated Burr even more than he did Jefferson. 
Thirty-six ballots were necessary before the Federalists 
could bring themselves to acquiesce in Jefferson's election, 
and even then they refused to vote for him, and permitted 
him to be chosen only by absenting themselves. The 
Federalists lost greatly by this political maneuver. Once 
in power, the Republicans proposed an amendment to the 
Constitution revising the method of choosing the President 
and Vice-President (p. 319). 



292 



The Federalist Supremacy 



213 



The 

Judiciary 
Act, 1801. 
Sctiouler's 
United 
States, I, 500. 



Adams's 
" midnight 
appoint- 
ments." 



212. The Judiciary Act, 1801. — Defeated in the election, 
the Federalists "retreated into the Judiciary as a strong- 
hold." The Judiciary, as it was established at the time of 
the organization of the government, was more than suffi- 
cient for the transaction of all the business that was likely 
to come before it for many years. Nevertheless, the Feder- 
alists, after the results of the election were known, pushed 
through Congress an act greatly enlarging it and providing 
many new and valuable places to be filled by the President 
of the defeated party. The Constitution forbids a member 
of Congress to accept an office which has been created, or 
the emoluments of which have been increased, during his 
term as a member of that body. This requirement was 
now evaded by promoting many district judges to the 
new positions, and filling the vacancies thus created by the 
appointment of members of Congress. One of Adams's 
judicial appointments deserves a fuller mention. Oliver 
Ellsworth, Jay's successor in the chief-justiceship, resigned, 
and John Marshall was nominated in his stead. He was at 
the moment acting as Secretary of State and for a few days 
performed the duties of both offices, — a combination of 
executive and judicial functions not contemplated by the 
Constitution. He proved to be the ablest legal luminary 
America has yet produced. For thirty-five years he re- 
mained at the head of the Supreme Court, continuing in 
that branch of the government the broad constructive theo- 
ries of constitutional interpretation maintained by the 
Federalists. 

Adams also filled up e^ery vacant office in the govern- 
ment, and Marshall was still busy countersigning commis- 
sions when the hour of twelve struck on the night of March 
3, 1 801, and the Federalist supremacy came to an end. At 
dawn the next morning Adams set out for his home in 
Quincy, Massachusetts, without waiting to greet his unwel- 
come successor. 



Questions and Topics 293 

SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS AND TOPICS 
§§ 191-198. Organization of the Government 

a. Put as a heading in note-book "Party Government"; begin 
its outline with the following heads: definition of party; why arc 
political parties necessary ? trace origin and growth of party govern- 
ment in the United States ; discuss organization of parties ; describe 
the present political organizations in your state ; ought a citizen to 
attach himself to a party ? what are Independents and what political 
value have they, if any? what political value has a "regular" party 
man, if any? 

b. State the fundamental principles held by the first two great politi- 
cal parties; are these principles party issues to-day? 

c. Compare Washington's Inaugural Address with that of the pres- 
ent chief magistrate under the following heads : personal tone, specific 
statement, declaration of political principles, self-effacement, English 
style. Account for difference. 

d. State the legal relations of the cabinet officers to the President; 
to Congress. Compare with British cabinet system. 

e. Was the declaration that " Congress had no authority to interfere 
with slavery within the states" binding on future Congresses? 

§§ 200-204. Foreign Relations 

a. Bring to class a brief digest of the history of Great Britain and 
France, 1 783-1801. 

b. Review the services of France to the United States, 1776-83, and 
then discuss her treatment by the United States at this period. 

c. Why does the Neutrality Proclamation mark an epoch in United 
States history? 

§ 205. Washington's Farewell Address 

Enter in your note-book Washington's views touching the following 
points : the continuance of the Union, sectional parties, combinations 
and associations, changes in Constitution, federal authority, party spirit, 
encroachments by departments, public education, national antipathies 
and attachments, European alliances. Watch the course of the nar- 
ration to see how far Washington's warnings were prophetic. 

§§ 206-210. John Adams's Administration 

a. What is the significance in United States history of French rela- 
tions at this time? 



294 The Federalist Supremacy 

b. What are 'he features of the present Naturalization Act? 

c. Under what headings in note-book must matter in § 209 be 
entered? Why are the "compact theory" and "nullification" 
spoken of as premise and conclusion? Why is Madison called the 
"Father of the Constitution"? Has his testimony in the Virginia 
Resolutions as to the nature of the Constitution any value? Care- 
fully define interposition, nullification. 



§ 211. Election of 1800 

a. Breach in Federalist party : causes ; describe and criticise con- 
duct of opponents ; results. 

b. Explain the original method of election of President and state 
its advantages and disadvantages; what changes were made by tho 
Twelfth Amendment? How far were they improvements? What 
method would you recommend, and why? 

General Questions 

a. Consider the Federalist party under the following heads : promi 
nent men, theory, services, errors; why was it natural and fortunate 
that such a party should at first direct the destinies of the United 
States ? Why natural and fortunate that it should fall ? 

b. Look up Principles of Neutrality, Principles of Consular Powers. 

c. Enter in note-book list of constitutional questions which arose 
during this period. 

Topics for Individual Investigation 

a. Summarize Hamilton's statements of foreign debt, domestic debt, 
state debts; define his attitude toward each, and summarize his reasons 
(^Guide, 332). 

b. Explain the Funding Bill (^Guide, 332). 

c. Explain the compromise over Assumption {Guide, 332). 

d. Summarize Hamilton's argument on the constitutionality of the 
United States Bank ; summarize Jefferson's argument ( Guide, 334) . 

e. Summarize the leading speeches on Jay's Treaty (279, second 
reference). 

f. Summarize the repressive acts of 1798 (284, second reference). 

g. Summarize the Kentucky Resolutions, the Virginia Resolutions 
(286, 287). 



CHAPTER VIII 

THE JEFFERSONIAN REPUBLICANS, i8oi-i8l2 
Books for Consultation 

General Readings. — Johnston's American Politics^ 55-77; Hig- 
ginson's Larger History, 344-365 ; Hart's Formation of the Union, 
176-206; '^sXk&x's Making of the Nation, 168-229; Schouler's United 
States, II, ch, vii. 

Special Accounts. — Wilson's Presidents; Schouler's Jefferson 
(M. A.); Morse's/. Q. Adams (S. S.); Gay's Madison (S. S.); 
Adams's y<3^« Randolph (S. 'is.) ; Roosevelt's Winning of the West; 
Larned's History for Ready Reference; Schouler's United States; 
*Hildreth's United States ; Maurice Thompson's Louisiana. Larger 
biographies of the leading statesmen, Guide, § 25. 

Sources. — Cooper and Fenton, American Politics ; Stedman and 
Hutchinson, Library of American Literature ; Benton's Abridgment; 
American History Leaflets ; Williams's StatestJtan' s Manual ; Adams's 
New England Federalism. Writings of the leading statesmen, Guide, 
§§ S^i 33) MacDonald's Documetits. 

Maps. — Mac Coun's Historical Geography; Hart's Epoch Maps; 
Winsor's America. 

Bibliography. — Channing and Hart, Guide to American History, 
§§ 56a, 56 b (General Readings), §§ 167-171 (Topics and References). 

Illustrative Material. — McMaster's United States; Maclay's 
United States A^avy ; Goodrich's Recollections ; Dwight's Travels; 
J. Q. Adams's Diary ; Parton's Burr, Jackson, and Jefferson ; Schuy- 
ler's ^w^r?V<7« Diplomacy; Sullivan's Familiar Letters ; Basil Hall's 
Voyages and Travels ; Drzke's Making of the West. 

Bynner's Zachary Phips ; Hale's Man Without a Country and 
Philip Nolan^s Friends ; Paulding's Diverting History of John Bull. 

THE JEFFERSONIAN REPUBLICANS, 1801-1812 

213. American Ideals, 1800. — Before 1800, the Ameri- Rise of 
can people seemed to stand still, as if lost in the traditions 
and prejudices of the past. The great political overturn genius. 

295 



American 
inventive 



296 



The Jeffersonian Republicans 



[§214 



which some writers call the Revolution of 1800, marks the 
point of time when this indifference gave way to an outburst 
of mental activity and to a fertihty of invention that, in the 
life of one generation (1800-30), changed the American 
people into the energetic race it has ever since been. It 
lost much of its natural opposition to that which is new and 
prepared to take advantage of the great opportunities which 
the application of modern invention to the natural wealth 
of the United States placed within reach. At the same 
time, the American people sought to elevate the intellectual 
and the material position of the average citizen. These 




Numbers, 
1800. 



iv.ovement of the center of population 



tasks were difficult, the laborers were few, and a less 
hopeful race might well have been dismayed at the work 
before it. 

214. Population in 1800. — The census of 1800 gives 
the total population of the United States as about five 
millions (5,308,483), in comparison with a population of 
four millions in 1790, and sixteen hundred thousand in 
1760. At the beginning of the century the population of 
the British Islands was some fifteen millions, and that of 
France, over twenty-seven millions. These five million 
Americans were scattered over nearly three hundred thou- 
sand square miles of territory, that being the " settled area " 
according to the census. At least two thirds, or three and 
one half millions, lived on tide water, or within fifty miles 
of it. The remainder inhabited the slopes of the Alle- 
ghanies or the new settlements in the Northwest Territory, 



i8oo] 



Population in 1800 



297 



Kentucky, and Tennessee, which were then frequently 
spoken of as "The West." 

The growth of this latter region had been wonderful for Settlement 
those days, before the time of steam. In 1790 there were of the West 
about one hundred and eleven thousand settlers in the 
West; their number had increased in ten years to three 
hundred and seventy thousand, distributed as follows : in 
Kentucky, two hundred and twenty thousand, including 
forty thousand slaves ; in Tennessee, one hundred and five 
thousand, of whom fourteen thousand were slaves ; and in 
the Northwest Territory, forty-five thousand, all free. 

The center of population was near Baltimore, but it Distribution 
had already advanced forty-one miles on its westward ^fpopula- 
march, — in 1790 it had been twenty-three miles east of 
Baltimore, and now it was eighteen miles west of that 
city. The inhabitants of the original thirteen states and 
of Vermont were distributed somewhat as follows : north 
of Mason and Dixon's line (p. 99) there were nearly two 
million seven hundred thousand, including one hundred 
thousand slaves ; south of that line there were two million 
two hundred thousand, of whom nine hundred thousand 
were slaves. The white population of the South was there- 
fore just one half of that of the North. The state which 
possessed the largest slave population was Virginia, with 
three hundred and fifty thousand slaves, in a total popula- 
tion of nearly nine hundred thousand ; in South Carolina 
there were thirty thousand whites and seventy thousand 
blacks. 

The American people has usually been regarded as of 
English origin, and, as a matter of fact, that race was the 
most numerous and the most important ; and American in- 
stitutions have their source mainly in English institutions, as 
developed in colonial days. The first three quarters of 
the eighteenth century had witnessed a great immigration 
from Europe to America; but from 1775 to 1800 few immi- 
grants landed on the shores of the United States. Many 
men who played prominent parts in the formation of the 



Racial 
elements. 



298 



The Jeffersonian Republicans 



[§ 214 



New 

England and 
Virginia. 



The Middle 
states. 



Constitution and in the organization of. the government 
were born outside the limits of the United States. For 
instance, the three great financiers, Robert Morris, Alex- 
ander Hamilton, and Albert Gallatin, were foreign born; 
James Wilson, who contributed powerfully to secure the 
ratification of the Constitution, was a Scot, and William 
Jackson, the defender of slavery, was an Englishman. 
But, with the exception of those foreigners who were 
already on the soil in 1775, the citizens of the United 
States in 1800 were born in America. They were de- 
scended from all the nations of northwestern Europe, 
and it will be interesting to note the racial origins of 
the inhabitants of the several sections. In New Eng- 
land and Virginia, there was less of the non-English ele- 
ment than in any other portion of the country; but even 
in New England there were descendants of Scots banished 
by Cromwell after the victories of Dunbar and Worcester, 
of Scotch-Irish immigrants from the north of Ireland, and 
of Huguenots who had fled from France at the revocation of 
the Edict of Nantes. In the newly settled portions of 
Virginia there were often descendants of Scotch-Irish immi- 
grants and of German Protestants. But taking the New 
England states and Virginia as a whole, it may fairly 
be said that the bulk of the people were of English 
extraction. 

In the Middle states there was the greatest diversity of 
population. New York City, originally settled by the 
Dutch, contained people of many races even as far back as 
the outbreak of the Revolutionary War; on the banks of 
the Hudson and the Mohawk, there were large German 
settlements. In Pennsylvania and Maryland were people 
of many races and rehgions, and in the extreme south were 
large numbers of Germans, French, Scots, and Scotch-Irish. 
These various races were all drawn from the two great 
branches of the Aryan stock, — Germanic and Keltic, — 
which have always shown the greatest power of living side 
by side. They lived happily together on American soil, 



i8oo] 



Analysis of the Population 



299 



and, by a process of growing together, laid the foundation 
of a strong aggressive race, the American people, which 
came into existence in the epoch between the inaugu- 
ration of Thomas Jefferson and the election of Andrew 
Jackson. 

215. Analysis of the Population. — The collection of Cities and 
large portions of the populace in cities and towns had *°^™^- 
scarcely begun. Only about five per cent of the total 




Density of population, 1800 



population can be regarded as urban as distinguished from 
rural. This part of the people was gathered into eleven 
cities and towns, only five of which — Philadelphia, New 
York, Baltimore, Boston, and Charleston — would now be 
regarded as urban. Philadelphia, the largest of them, 
contained seventy thousand inhabitants. It was the finest 
city in America, and patriotic Americans regarded it as 
surpassing Paris and London in elegance: the principal 
streets were lighted, many of them were paved, a system 



300 The Jeffersonian Republicans [§ 216 

of drainage was already devised, and water was furnished 
to the inhabitants by wooden pipes from a pure source of 
supply outside the city. New York, with sixty thousand 
inhabitants, was behind Philadelphia in introducing im- 
provements, but, even in 1800, it must have been an 
agreeable place of residence ; the houses then stood near 
together on the southern end of Manhattan Island, and 
Broadway was a fashionable drive. Baltimore, the third 
in point of population (twenty-six thousand), was situated 
south of Mason and Dixon's line ; but it was a Pennsylvania 
seaport fully as much as a Maryland town, as it absorbed 
most of the commerce of the Susquehanna valley. Bos- 
ton, with twenty-four thousand inhabitants, was a thickly 
built little town with narrow streets and a thriving com- 
merce. Charleston contained twenty thousand souls, and 
bore a distinctively Southern aspect; it controlled the rice 
trade, and was the place of residence of the wealthy planters 
of South Carolina. Providence, Savannah, Norfolk, Rich- 
mond, Albany, and Portsmouth, each contained between 
eight and five thousand inhabitants. Washington, the new 
capital, had been recently occupied; it was hardly a vil- 
lage, except on paper, and contained only the Capitol, the 
White House, two departmental buildings, and a few 
Stedman and boarding houses; the public buildings were still uncom- 

Hutchinson, pigtg(j. Mj-s. Adams found the audience room of the White 

III, 302. 

House convenient for drying clothes, and the representa- 
tives met in a temporary building erected in the middle of 
the unfinished Capitol. 

Area. 2i6. Various Statistics. — The area of the United States 

was about eight hundred thousand square miles (849,145), 
of which only three hundred thousand were partially occu- 
pied. The total valuation of the United States was esti- 
mated to be about eighteen hundred million dollars, or 
about three hundred and twenty-eight dollars per head 

(P- 579)- 
Exports and Notwithstanding the obstacles placed in the way of the 
imports. y^t'sX India trade, and the dislocation of commerce, owing 



i8oo] 



Occupations of the People 



301 



to the breach with France, the country was prosperous, and 
foreign trade had increased in a marvelous manner. The 
exports, excluding bullion, were valued at over twenty mil- 
lion dollars in 1790, and at over seventy millions in 1800. 
The imports had increased at a still more rapid rate; in 
1790 they were valued at twenty-five millions, in 1800 at 
over ninety millions. 

217. Occupations of the People. — Agriculture was the 
principal occupation of the people, although the commerce 
of the Northern states was of great importance. Manufac- 
turing had been begun, but as yet was in its infancy, and 
the fisheries remained a source of great proportional wealth. 
Wheat and other food grains were largely exported from 
the middle group of states, including those on Chesapeake 
Bay; New Jersey produced more than any other. In 1791 
more than six hundred thousand barrels of flour and one 
million bushels of wheat were exported, and about double 
that amount in 1800. The soil and climate of New Eng- 
land were unsuited to agriculture on an extensive scale, 
but potatoes, onions, turnips, and carrots flourished and 
formed an important article of export to the West India 
Islands, whenever they were open to American commerce. 
Tobacco and rice were the great staples of the Southern 
states, and with naval stores and indigo were the most 
valuable exports of that section; the cultivation of cotton 
for export was just beginning to attract attention. 

Foreign commerce was thriving in 1800, and vessels fly- 
ing the flag of the United States had already visited every' 
sea; most of these merchant ships were very small, seldom 
exceeding four hundred tons, and the largest vessel in the 
navy measured only fifteen hundred tons. Coastwise navi- 
gation was still uncertain and dangerous, but more vessels 
were employed, and departures and arrivals were more fre- 
quent and more punctual. The use of steam for motive 
power had as yet attracted slight attention : in 1803 there 
were probably only five steam engines in the country. 
Three years later (1806) Robert Fulton began the con- 



Industries. 



Commerce. 



Robert 

Fulton. 

Hubert's 

Inventors, 

ch. ii ; 

Thurston's 

Fulton 

(M.A.). 



302 



The Jeffersonian Republicans 



[§2I8 



struction of his steamboat, amid the jeers of suspicious and 
incredulous onlookers. The age of steam was near at hand. 
The manufacture of iron had been begun in early colonial 
days, but its successful development had been prevented 
by the repressive policy of the British Parliament. There 
were a few iron mills in Pennsylvania, and the manufacture 
of small articles, as nails, was actively carried on as a 
household industry in New England. The vast mineral 
resources of the United States were practically untouched. 




Robert Fuiton 



Cotton 
culture and 
manufacture. 



21 8. Cotton Culture and Manufacture. — One of the things 
which impresses the student of the colonial and early con- 
stitutional periods is the commercial and political intimacy 
which then existed between. mercantile New England and 
rice-growing South Carolina. The planters of the latter 
colony were the customers of the slave dealers of the North, 
and the commerce of the Southern colony and state was 
largely in the hands of New England shipowners and mer- 
chants. The first thirty years of the nineteenth century 



i8ooJ 



Cotton Culture and Manufacture 



303 



saw a great revulsion of feeling in these two sections, the 
cause of which may be summed up in one word, — cotton: 
the Northerners began to manufacture cotton and desired 
to be protected from English competition; the Southerners 
began to grow cotton in large quantities for export, and 
came to regard the protective system as hostile to the, 
prosecution of their industry. By fastening slavery on the 




cotton-growing states, this industry also dominated the poli 
tics of the second third of the century. 

The successful adaptation of the steam engine to the Improve- 
moving of machinery was closely connected in England 
with great improvements in the machinery for spinning 
and weaving: Hargreaves invented the spinning jenny in 
1767; two years later (1769) Arkwright produced the draw- 
ing frame; Crompton followed with the mule spinner in 
1784; and Cartwright with the power loom in 1785. These 
great inventions stimulated the manufacture of cotton cloth 



ments in 
spinning and 
weaving 
machinery. 



304 



The Jeffersonian Republicans 



[§2I8 



Whitney's 
cotton gin, 

1793- 
Hubert's 
Inventors, 
ch. iii. 



Rise of 
cotton 
manufacture 
in America. 



in England and vastly increased the demand for cotton, 
which was then supplied by Egypt and India. Cotton had 
been grown in small quantities in the Southern colonies 
since the middle of the seventeenth century, and had been 
used for the making of coarse clothing in the South. In 
1786 the results of cotton raising were sufficiently favora- 
ble to induce Madison to assert, "There is no reason to 
doubt that the United States will one day become a great 
cotton-producing country." The great obstacle to the 
realization of this expectation was the expense incurred in 
the separation of the fiber from the seed. This process 
had to be tiresomely performed by hand, and labor was 
expensive, even in the South. Notwithstanding these 
adverse conditions, the cultivation of cotton proceeded. 
In 1790 the South produced two hundred thousand pounds 
of cotton, and in the next year (1791) exported one hun- 
dred and eighty-nine thousand pounds. Two years later 
(1793), Eli Whitney, a Connecticut schoolmaster, then re- 
siding in Georgia, invented an arrangement by which the 
cotton fiber was drawn by saw teeth through openings too 
small to admit of the passage of the seed, and thus multi- 
plied the capacity of one slave in cleaning cotton about 
three hundred fold. Whitney's invention gained billions 
of dollars for the Southerners; he himself was mobbed 
when he sought to enforce his right to the production of 
his cunning brain. The exportation of cotton now in- 
creased with marvelous rapidity: in 1800 nearly twenty 
million pounds, worth five million dollars, were exported, 
an amount which was exactly doubled in three years, and, 
by 1824, the amount had increased to one hundred and 
forty-two million pounds, worth twenty-two million dol- 
lars. 

The manufacture of cotton cloth in the United States 
proceeded more slowly. Parliament (1774) forbade the 
exportation of machinery, or any patterns of machinery, 
for the spinning or weaving of cotton. Spinning machin- 
ery, however, was set up in the United States, at Beverly 



i8oo] 



Slavery 



305 



and Bridgewater in Massachusetts, Pawtucket in Rhode 
Island, Norwich in Connecticut, and at Philadelphia, but 
it was of slight efficiency. In 1790 Samuel Slater, an Samuel 
Englishman, who had worked as an apprentice to Ark- Slater. 
wright, came to America. In partnership with Brown and 
Almy, two Providence men, he reproduced from memory 
Arkwright's machinery, and set it up in a small mill which 
his associates had started two years before. Other spin- 
ning mills were soon erected, but in 18 12 there was no 
machinery for weaving in the country. Its introduction F. C. Lowell 
was due to Francis Cabot Lowell of Boston, who visited 
England, studied the process of manufacture, and returned 
with many new ideas, but without patterns or machinery. 
He had observed keenly, however, and in company with 
Patrick T. Jackson devised a power loom. In 1813, with 
the assistance of Nathan Appleton, they built a small fac- 
tory at Waltham, near Boston, and began the spinning 
and weaving of cotton in one factory for the first time in 
history. From these small beginnings, the industry soon 
grew into large proportions. 

219. Slavery. — In a preceding chapter, the gradual Process of 
spread of emancipation in the North has been mentioned emancipa- 

/ X f-.. 1 1 • r 1 ^ • • XT tion in the 

(p. 227). Since the adoption of the Constitution, New North. 
York had joined the other Northern states in providing for 
the gradual emancipation of the negro, and in 1800 New 
Jersey was the only state north of Mason and Dixon's line 
which had not provided for the freeing of the slaves. She, 
too, passed a gradual emancipation act in 1804. Of all 
these states, Massachusetts and Vermont alone declared 
slavery to be illegal; in the other states, the process of 
emancipation was so slow, that in 1840 there were still one 
thousand one hundred and nine negroes legally held in 
bondage in the North; Massachusetts, Maine, Vermont, 
and Michigan were the only states in which there were no 
slaves. 

In the South, there were several emancipation societies 
in 1800, and many men expected or hoped for the speedy 



3o6 



The Jeffersonian Republicans 



[§ 220 



Emancipa- 
tion in the 
South. 



Influence of 
slavery. 



Improve- 
ments in 
transport. 
Fiske's Criti- 
cal Period, 
60-63. 



extinction of slavery in that part of the country. There 
were then nearly a million slaves in that section, and the 
increasing profitableness of cotton culture put an end to 
projects of emancipation. The price of slaves in the cot- 
ton states began to rise; states which had prohibited the 
importation of slaves repealed the prohibitory statutes; and 
the Virginians, who had been anxious to bring about 
emancipation in 1789, began to lose interest in the matter 
now that they saw a profitable market for their surplus 
slaves in the states to the southward. The great expansion 
of the cotton industry increased the wealth of the country, 
but in so far as it fixed slavery on the nation, it can be 
regarded in no other light than as a terrible evil, — for the 
ill wrought by slavery cannot be overestimated. 

It was not only in its evil influence on the society in 
which it flourished that slavery worked injury to the coun- 
try; it divided the nation into two hostile sections, whose 
interests and modes of thought speedily became antagonistic. 
This division was due in part to the fact that those portions 
of the West situated north of the Ohio River were peopled 
mainly by emigrants from the older Northern states on the 
seaboard, and those states lying south of that river were 
settled almost entirely by colonists from the South, who 
migrated thither with their slaves. A large part of Kentucky 
and Tennessee was composed of mountainous regions, and 
was outside of the cotton belt. These states, therefore, 
although tolerating slavery, developed on different lines 
from the cotton-growing states south of them. 

220. Internal Communication. — Slight improvements had 
been made in transportation since the days when the first 
congressmen journeyed to Philadelphia. The roads in the 
vicinity of the larger towns and those forming the mail 
route, which extended from Maine to Georgia, had been 
improved. It now took twenty days to carry the mails from 
the Kennebec to the Savannah, and twenty-two days 
from Philadelphia to Nashville, Tennessee. Coaches ran 
from Boston to New York three limes a week, and occu- 



i8oo] Intellectual Life 307 

pied three days on the journey, and a coach ran from New 
York to Philadelphia, occupying nearly two days in going 
from the Hudson to the Delaware. South of Philadelphia 
there was a good road as far as Baltimore; south of that 
point it was bad and dangerous. Beyond the Potomac, the 
roads rapidly decreased in safety and number, until south 
of the James the traveler was compelled to have resort 
to horseback; a coach which ran from Charleston to Savan- 
nah was the only public conveyance south of the Potomac. 
In fact, it may be said without much fear of exaggeration, 
that San Francisco, for all practical purposes, is nearer to 
New York at the present day than Washington was in 1800. 

221. Intellectual Life. — The intellectual life of the peo- Torpidity of 
pie was at a standstill. Philadelphia remained the literary i"t<^"ectual 
center of the countr}', but there was backwardness even 
there. Franklin and Rittenhouse, who had given it its 
prominence in science, were both dead, and had left no one 
to fill their places. A small group of literary men, of whom 
Philip Freneau is the best known, produced the most 
creditable literary work of the day. At New Haven, the 
Dwights, Timothy and Theodore, with Joel Barlow, strove 
to establish a literary center; their success may be gathered 
from a perusal of their principal works, — Barlow's Coli/m- Stedman and 

diad and Timothy Dwight's Greenfield Bill; the latter's Hutchinson, 

HI, 463. 
Travels in Neiv England and New York is one of the most 

instructive books of the time. The great literary master- 
pieces, save the classics, were scarcely studied at all : 
Shakspere was dreaded in New England, a German book 
could not be bought in Boston, nor was there one in the 
library of the college at Cambridge; Schiller and Goethe 
were unknown even in Pennsylvania, except possibly in 
translations. The literary men who were to give reputation 
to American letters during the next half century were not 
yet out of school : Washington Irving was a lad of seven- 
teen, James Feniraore Cooper a boy of eleven, and William 
Cullen Bryant a child of six. 

The zeal for education which had been so marked at an 



308 



The Jeffersonian Republicans 



[§ 222 



Decline of 
education. 



Encouraging 
signs. 



Cause of the 
fall of the 
Federalists. 



earlier day (p. 145) had greatly diminished. In the awak- 
ening of the Revolutionary period, there had been much 
enthusiasm on the subject, but it had since died out. A 
system of public instruction had been established in Rhode 
Island and in New York, the latter in 1795; but it was 
already declining in 1800. The colleges had not improved 
their methods of teaching or enlarged the scope of their 
instruction; they had slight hold on the community, and 
fewer students attended them than in the earlier years. 
The medical schools at Philadelphia and Boston were the 
only institutions in the country where any appreciable 
attention was paid to science. 

In only two respects was American mental activity credit- 
able, — in the production of state papers and in works of 
art. The political documents of this epoch were well 
written and logically constructed : students of politics and 
politicians of all grades and parentage have necessarily 
had resort to these admirably expressed documents, 
which have thus served to keep the English of America 
unusually pure. 

The other respect in which the American people gave a 
sign of latent power was in art. Gilbert Stuart, Benjamin 
West, Washington AUston, with Copley and Malbone-, 
formed a body of artists of whom any nation might well be 
proud. They received their training in England, and 
achieved most of their renown there. ' We must now turn 
to a study of the political history of Jefferson's administra- 
tions. 

222. The Federalists and the People. — The fall of the 
Federalists was due to the old-fashioned ideas of the party 
leaders, and to their failure to understand the nature of 
republican institutions. Hamilton's opinion of the people 
has been already stated (p. 261), but other leading men in 
the party were of nearly the same mind. For example, 
Theodore Sedgwick was accustomed to speak of the people 
as "Jacobins and miscreants," and George Cabot held 
"democracy to be the government of the worst." 




Thomas Jefferson 
From an engraving by W. HoU 



3IO 



The Jeffersonian Republicans 



[§223 



Abuse of 

political 

opponents. 



Jefferson's 
first inaugu- 
ral, 1801. 
Schouler's 
United 
States, 
n, 1-4; 
Johnston's 
Orations, I, 
147-163. 



The abuse of political opponents which so painfully 
marked the opening years of the government under the 
Constitution was not confined to Republican denunciation 
of Federalists. On the contrary, Jefferson was the mark of 
abusive reproaches from the pens of newspaper ».^..- . 
and the tongues of orators and ministers. One Federalist 
editor for a time habitually wrote of Jefferson and Gallatin 
as "the knaves," "the cold thinking villains . . . whose 
black blood runs, temperately bad." Theodore Dwight, one 
of the New Haven literary coterie (p. 307) and the histo- 
riographer of the Federalists, expressed the opinions of 
many men of that party in the following remarkable sen- 
tences spoken on July 7, 1801 : "We have now reached 
the consummation of democratic blessedness. We have a 
country governed by blockheads and knaves. . . . Our 
sirnames, the only mark of distinction among families, 
are abolished. . . . Can the imagination paint anything 
more dreadful? Some parts of the subject are indeed fit 
only for horrid contemplation." On the other hand, 
Hamilton, who asserted that he had "as much reason to 
hate Jefferson as any man," predicted that his adminis- 
tration would be cautious and moderate, — a prediction 
which was abundantly justified by the facts. 

223. Jefferson's Inaugural. —Jefferson was indeed anx- 
ious to moderate the feelings of asperity which had been 
aroused by the Alien and Sedition Acts, and the attempt to 
thwart the wishes of the people by electing Burr President. 
With a few friends he walked from his boarding house to 
the Capitol, took the oath of office, and read his inaugural 
address. "The sum of good government," he declared to 
be "a wise and frugal government which shall restrain men 
from injuring one another, [and] shall leave them other- 
wise free to regulate their own pursuits." Above all, he 
desired conciliation, saying, "We are all Republicans, we 
are all Federalists," and declared "absolute acquiescence 
in the decisions of the majority [to be] the vital principle 
of republics." He then proceeded to lay down the broad 



i8oi] 



The Civil Service 



311 



lines of his policy as follows : " Equal and exact justice to 
all men, of whatever state or persuasion, religious or politi- 
cal; peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all na- 
tions, entangling alliances with none; . . . economy in 
the public expense, that labor may be lightly burdened; the 
honest payment of our debts, and sacred preservation of the 
public faith; encouragement of agriculture, and of com- 
merce as its handmaid; the diffusion of information, and 
arraignment of all abuses at the bar of public reason ; freedom 
of religion, freedom of the press, and freedom of the person. 
. . . Should we wander from them [the above principles] 
in moments of error and alarm, let us hasten to retrace 
our steps and regain the road which alone leads to peace, 
liberty, and safety." 
In a letter written a 
few months later (May 
26, 1801) he said : " To 
preserve the peace of 
our fellow-citizens, 
promote their pros- 
perity and happiness, 
reunite opinion, culti- 
vate a spirit of candor, 
moderation, charity, 
and forbearance to 
wards one another, are 
objects calling for 
the efforts and sacri- 
fices of every good 
man and patriot." 

224. The Civil Service. — Jefferson was very fortunate in Jefferson's 
the selection of his leading advisers. He placed Madison heads of 

° '^ . . departments, 

at the head of the State Department and Gallatin — inferior 
only to Hamilton as a financier — at the head of the Treas- 
ury. The new administration found the government offices 
filled with Federalists, owing in great measure to the pro- 
scription of the Republicans by Adams, and by Washington 




Albert Gallatin 



312 



The Jejfersonian Republicans 



[§ 224 



Removals 
from office. 
Schouler's 
United 
States, 
II. 6-12. 



during the later years of his presidency. Among these 
office-holders were some of Jefferson's most bitter oppo- 
nents, men who might in all justice be said to have exercised 




John Marshal! 
After a painting by Inman 

"offensive partisanship" or "industrious opposition," as 
he termed it, during the recent struggle. One of these 
was Goodrich, formerly a representative from Connecticut, 
where Federalism was especially rampant. He had resigned 
his seat to accept from President Adams the position of 



i8oi] 



The Judiciary Department 



313 



Collector of Customs at New Haven. Jefferson removed 
him and appointed in his place a man named Bishop, whose 
son had recently defended Republicanism in an address 
before the literary societies of Yale College. The matter 
was made the occasion of the most furious abuse of the 
new President. 

Jefferson was especially indignant at what he termed 
" the indecent conduct [of Adams] in crowding nominations 
after he knew they were not for himself," and at the enlarge- 
ment of the Judiciary Department, out of all proportion to 
its work and after the results of the election were known. 
Congress, when it met, repealed the act establishing these 
new courts, and Jefferson refused to deliver commissions 
which Adams and Marshall had left signed at the moment 
of their hasty departure from ofifice. Chief Justice Marshall, 
in the case of Marbury vs. Madison, which was brought to 
compel the delivery of one of these commissions, forgot 
that the legality of his own act was partly in question, and 
while dismissing the case on technical grounds, declared 
as his opinion that Jefferson's proceeding was "not war- 
ranted by law, but violative of a legal vested right." Jef- 
ferson naturally paid no attention to such an expression of 
opinion, and both he and Marshall were too cautious in 
temperament to proceed farther. 

In addition to these removals, and others for which rea- 
sons were assigned, Jefferson, in the course of the first 
fourteen months of his administration, made sixteen re- 
movals without giving reasons, in order, in all probability, 
to make room for Republicans. These dismissals must be 
deplored, as they furnished the precedent for the whole- 
sale removals by Jackson. But Jefferson was far from using 
the civil service as a reward for party services, as it was 
used in Jackson's time. Indeed, he pointedly refused, on 
more than one occasion, to appoint party workers to ofifice. 

225. The Judiciary Department. — This great branch of 
the government remained in the hands of the Federal- 
ists, although many judges of that party were "legis- 



Repeal of the 

Judiciary 

Act. 

Schouler's 

United 

States, 

II. 2^. 



Effect of 
Jefferson's 
policy as to 
the civil 
service. 



314 



The Jeffersonian Republicans 



[§226 



Impeach- 
ment of 
Chase. 
S--houlei"s 
United 
States, I, 
460, 11.86. 



Financial 

policy. 

Schouler's 

United 
States, II, 
22-24. 



lated out of office " by the repeal of the Judiciary Act of 
1800. In 1803, after the Republicans had been in control 
of the other branches of the government for two years, they 
first used the process of impeachment, the means provided 
in the Constitution to get rid of incapable and ill-behaved 
judges. The first case was that of a district judge, whose 
drunkenness while in discharge of his office was fully as- 
certained, and the Senate convicted the accused. The 
second case was the impeachment of Samuel Chase of 
Maryland, one of the justices of the Supreme Court. 
Chase's demeanor while presiding at Callender's trial had 
resembled that of a seventeenth century judge, and his 
comments on the conduct of the other two branches of the 
government delivered, while sitting on the bench, would 
now be considered indecent. The impeachment was 
badly managed, however: John Randolph of Roanoke, 
one of the most dramatic figures in American history and 
a man of brilliant talents, conducted the case on behalf of 
the House; but he was no match in a legal contest with a 
trained lawyer like Chase, who was assisted, moreover, by 
the ablest lawyers in the country. Besides, Chase had 
deserved well of the nation from his patriotic behavior 
during the Revolution, however unbecoming his harangues 
may have been in a judge. Two thirds of the senators were 
not willing to vote him guilty, and the prosecution failed 
(1805). It should be stated that this impeachment seems 
to have been undertaken against the desire and advice of 
the President. 

226. Financial Policy. — Between 1792 and 1801, the 
national debt had increased from seventy-seven million to 
nearly eighty-three million dollars. The deficits which 
gave rise to this increase were caused by extraordinary 
expenses in connection with Indian wars and with the 
breach with France. The income of the government had 
grown in a marvelous manner from a little over three and 
one half millions to more than ten and one half millions; 
but the expenditures had increased even faster, and slightly 



1803] The Louisiana Purchase 3^5 

exceeded the receipts in 1800. About three millions were 
devoted to the payment of interest on the national debt, 
not far from six millions were spent on the army and navy, 
and the remainder was expended on the civil and the diplo- 
matic service. Jefferson and Gallatin at once sketched Retrench- 
a financial policy which would lead to retrenchments in ™^"*5- 
all branches of the government, to a lightening of the bur- 
den of taxation on the people, and to a considerable reduc- 
tion of the public debt. The great increase in expenditures 
had been for warlike purposes, especially for the navy. 
The army was now reduced nearly one half, but the navy was 
more difficult to deal with. If Jefferson could have had 
his way, he would have tied the war ships to the most con- 
venient wharves, under the immediate eye of the depart- 
ment, where they " would require but one set of plunderers 
to take care of them." As it was, the number of vessels 
in commission was reduced from twenty-five to seven. 
Reductions were also made in the civil expenditures at 
the time; but, later, it was found necessary to increase 
them. The internal revenue taxes were repealed, but the 
increase from the imposts more than made up for this loss 
of revenue. Between 1801 and 1809, the debt was reduced 
from eighty-three millions to forty-five millions, notwith- 
standing the expenditures incurred in the acquisition of 
Louisiana and in the prosecution of the naval wars against 
the Barbary powers. 

227. The Louisiana Purchase, 1803. — France had ceded Louisiana 
the colony of Louisiana to Spain in 1763 (p. 116). In g^'j^^jjjjj' 
1800, by the Treaty of St. Ildefonso, Spain returned it France, 1800 
to France, then under the rule of Napoleon. The an- Schouier's 
nouncement of this change of ownership awakened great ^^^'^^^ jj 
indignation in the United States, for as long as Louisiana 
was in the hands of Spain, a weak and declining state, 
little fear was felt of the growth of a powerful colony west 
of the Mississippi River. Even Jefferson, averse to war Excitement 
and friendly to the French, was aroused, and wrote to '" America. 
Robert R. Livingston, then American minister at Paris 



3i6 



The Jeffersonian Republicans 



[§227 



(April, 1802): "There is on the globe one single spot, the 
possessor of which is our natural and habitual enemy; . . . 
The day that France takes possession of New Orleans fixes 
the sentence which is to restrain her [France] forever within 
her low-water mark. It seals the union of two nations, who, 
in conjunction, can maintain exclusive possession of the 
ocean. From that moment we must marry ourselves to the 




The United States, 1803 

British fleet and nation." While affairs were in this condi- 
tion of tension, news arrived that the Spanish governor at 
New Orleans had withdrawn " the right of deposit " (p. 280), 
presumably that the colony might be handed over to France 
free of all incumbrances. The Westerners were wild with 
excitement, as this meant the practical blocking of their only 
route to the markets of the world. Jefferson at once directed 
Livingston to buy the strip of coast extending eastward from 
the Mississippi and including New Orleans. He also ap- 
pointed Monroe special envoy to conduct this negotiation 



1803] Questions arising out of the Purchase 2^7 



and other important business with foreign governments. 
Livingston pressed the matter on the attention of the French 
government, but without avail. Suddenly Talleyrand, who 
was once again foreign minister, inquired if he wished 
to buy the whole of Louisiana. At this moment Monroe 
reached Paris. The Americans had no instructions to 
acquire this vast territory, but they decided to exceed 
their powers. Negotiations went rapidly forward, and 
they concluded a treaty by which the United States 
acquired Louisiana for fifteen million dollars, of which 
three and three quarter millions were to be used to pay 
claims of Americans for spoliations committed by France 
since 1800. Napoleon is said to have declared that "this 
accession of territory establishes forever the power of the 
United States, and gives to England a maritime rival des- 
tined to humble her pride "; but the real reason for Napo- 
leon's sudden change of front has never been ascertained. 
228. Questions arising out of the Purchase. — Three ques- 
tions of great importance are interesting in this connection : 
(i) the constitutionality of the measure, (2) the limits of 
Louisiana, and (3) the effect of the purchase on the devel- 
opment of the United States. For years Jefferson had 
proclaimed that under the Constitution the federal govern- 
ment possessed such powers only as were expressly delegated 
to it in that instrument. By no possible interpretation 
could the broadest constructionists have found the power to 
acquire territory even implied in any grant of power in 
the Constitution. The President at once declared that the 
transaction was "an act beyond the Constitution," and that 
an amendment would be necessary. On reflection, how- 
ever, this was seen to be impossible. Many things might 
happen before an amendment could be adopted : Napoleon 
might change his mind, or the British might seize Louisiana, 
as war was about to break out between France and Great 
Britain. The treaty was ratified as it stood, and Jefferson 
consoled himself with the thought that he was carrying out 
" the will of the people. " The Federalists thought otherwise 



Purchased 
by the 
United 
States, 1803. 
Winsor's 
America, 
VII, 478- 
480 ; Roose- 
velt's West, 
IV, ch. vi; 
Schouler's 
United 
States, II, 
49-58. 



Constitu- 
tionahty of 
the purchase, 
Johnston's 
Orations, 
I, 180-204. 



3 1 8 The Jeffersonian Republicans [§ 228 

and opposed ratification with all the means at their com- 
mand; some of them even proposed that the Federalist 
states should secede from the Union. 

The territory ceded by France was described in the treaty 
Limits of the as "the cojony or province of Louisiana, with the same 
purchase. extent as it now has in the hands of Spain, and that it had 
when France possessed it, and such as it should be after 
the treaties subsequently entered into between Spain and 
other powers." These were the terms of the cession by 
Spain to France, and more definite boundaries could not 
be obtained from Barb^-Marbois, the French negotiator of 
the treaty. But what did they mean? New Orleans was 
plainly comprised in the acquisition, but did Louisiana, as 
thus described, include West Florida, which the govern- 
ment was anxious to obtain, and Texas, about which it then 
cared nothing? The United States immediately asserted 
that it included West Florida, but to this assertion Spain 
would not agree, and France refused to interfere. The 
orders issued by the French government when it expected 
to take possession of the country for itself have been 
recently discovered, and show that France and Spain under- 
stood the words in the Treaty of St. Ildefonso, which were 
used in the cession to the United States, to exclude West 
Florida and to include Texas. 

The population of the ceded domain numbered about 
Effects of the fifty thousand, of which more than one half were negro 
pure lase. slaves. This addition of a new center of slavery must be 
considered as a disadvantage outweighing many advantages, 
more especially as the slavery of Louisiana resembled that 
of South Carolina. A large portion of the territory thus 
purchased lay west of the one hundredth meridian, that is, 
beyond the region of abundant rainfall. The settlement 
of this region, with the inevitable result of recurring failure 
of harvests, has given rise to many problems extremely 
difficult of solution. But when all has been said in its 
disfavor, the purchase of Louisiana was one of the most 
fortunate events in the history of the United States. 



i8o4] 



The Twelfth Amendment 



319 



229. The Twelfth Amendment, 1804. — As the presiden- 
tial election of 1804 drew near, the leading men in both 
parties resolved to amend the Constitution in such a manner 
as would prevent the recurrence of another scandal similar 
to the attempt to elect Burr President in 1800. The result 
was the Twelfth Amendment, declared in force in 1804. 
The old machinery of presidential electors was originally 
invented to lessen the supposed ill effects of popular 
election, and to give a less democratic cast to the gov- 
ernment. One would think that the Republicans would 
have seized the opportunity afforded by revision and have 
discarded such an aristocratic institution. Since 1804 
the forces of democracy have completely triumphed over 
this bit of constitutional machinery, — not an elector has 
voted against the wishes of the party which elected him. 
This device made it easier, however, to give the smaller 
states a share in the election of the highest officers in the 
nation out of all proportion to their population or impor- 
tance. The great change brought about by this amend- 
ment consisted in having the electors vote for President 
and Vice-President on separate and distinct ballots. 
This has prevented the recurrence of scandals like that 
of 1800; but it has led to the nomination of inferior 
men to the second place, which was not likely to have 
happened under the older system, as it was then uncer- 
tain which of the party's candidates would be chosen 
President. The amendment further provided that in 
case no candidate for the Chief Magistracy should receive 
a majority of all the electoral votes cast for President, 
the House of Representatives, voting by states, should 
elect one of the three having the highest number of votes 
(see p. 390). 

There was no question of Jefferson's election in 1804: 
he received one hundred and sixty-two votes, to only four- 
teen given to Charles C. Pinckney, the Federalist candidate 
for first place; even Massachusetts and New Hampshire 
g .ve their votes to Jefferson. 



Change in 

mode of 

electing 

President. 

Stanwood's 

Elections, 

45-48 ; 
Schouler's 
United 
States, II, 67 



Jefferson 

re-elected, 

1804. 

*Stanwood's 

Elections, 

45-50- 



320 



The Jeffersonian Republicans 



[§230 



Aaron Burr. 



He kills 
Hamilton. 



Burr's 

Conspiracy, 
1805-6. 
Roosevelt's 
West, IV, 
ch. vi ; 
Schouler's 
United 
States, II, 
133-138, 
139-141. 



230. Burr's Conspiracy and Trial, 1804-1807. — Aaron 
Burr, the Vice-President, had aroused the resentment of 
the Republicans by his deaHngs with the Federalists in 
1800. George Clinton, another New York Republican, 
was put forward in 1804 as Republican candidate for 
this office, and was elected. Driven from the Republican 
party, Burr had allied himself with the Federalists of New 

England and had 
offered himself as an 
independent candi- 
date for the governor- 
ship of New York. 
He was defeated, 
owing largely to the 
efforts of Hamil- 
ton, whom he now 
challenged to fight 
a duel and killed at 
the first shot. Hamil- 
ton's untimely death 
in the prime of man- 
hood aroused the 
moral sentiment of 
the people of the 
Northern states and 
put an end to duel- 
ing in that part of 
ThtoJosia Burr the country ; it made 

Burr an outcast and 
impelled him to undertake a most desperate venture. It 
is impossible to say what he expected to accomplish : at 
one time he seems to have had in mind the founding of an 
empire in Texas and Mexico, which should descend to his 
daughter, Theodosia; at another time, the venture took the 
shape of the formation of a new republic in the country 
west of the AUeghanies. Burr gathered arms, ammunition, 
and men and descended the Mississippi towards New 




1805] Attacks on Neutral Trade 321 

Orleans, where he expected to receive the aid of General 
Wilkinson, the United States commander in Louisiana. 
For some time Jefferson took no notice of his movements, 
but finally issued a proclamation for his capture; Wilkin- 
son hesitated as to whether he should betray his country 
or his friend, and in the end decided to sacrifice Burr. 
The latter abandoned his companions and endeavored to 
escape from the country to Spanish Florida. He was 
captured at a frontier town and taken to Richmond for 
trial before the federal Circuit Court. 

John Marshall, the Chief Justice, presided at the trial. Burr's trial, 
Among other things, he ordered the President to attend as 1807. 
a witness with the records of the War Department. Jeffer- 
son refused to heed the summons, but offered to send any 
papers which might be necessary. Even Federalist writers 
condemn this action of Marshall. The trial ended abruptly, 
as the Chief Justice declared that an overt act of treason 
must be first proved, and then Burr connected with it. 
The Constitution defines treason as consisting " only in 
levying war against them [the United States], or in adher- 
ing to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort." Burr 
had never been in a position to levy war, and the prosecu- 
tion for treason stopped at that point; nor was the govern- 
ment able to convict him of misdemeanor. 

231. Attacks on Neutral Trade, 1800-1808. — Jay's Relations 
treaty had fullv justified its existence by securing partial with Great 

. r T. • • , , •,• , • Britain, 

immunity from British hostility to American commerce 1800-3. 
during the struggle between Great Britain and France which 
ended in 1802 by the conclusion of the Peace of Amiens. 
During this time, the Americans were able to prosecute a 
most thriving trade with the Spanish and French West 
Indies. The British refused to permit the Americans to 
carry West India produce from the Spanish and French 
islands direct to Spain and France; but they had no objec- 
tion to such commerce when pursued indirectly through 
some United States port, provided the foreign goods were 
landed on a wharf and duty paid. Under these circum- 



322 



The Jeffersonian Republicans 



[§ 232 



Change in 
British 
policy, 1805. 



French and 

British 

decrees and 

orders, 

1806-10. 

Schouler's 

United 

States, II, 

151-160. 



Stances American trade flourished greatly, and this pros- 
perity continued during the earlier years of the war against 
Napoleon, which began in 1804. 

This successful commerce had aroused the jealousy of 
English shipowners, and they implored the younger Pitt, 
who was now Prime Minister, to put an end to the favors 
granted America; and there were not wanting persons to 
argue that the action of the Americans was so beneficial 
to England's enemies as to be "war in disguise." Pitt 
decided to enforce the "Rule of War of 1756" (p. 277) 
to the letter, and thus put an end to all American trade to 
the West Indies. The British vessels made seizures right 
and left, and, as a matter of fact. Great Britain practically 
began war against the United States (1805). 

The conflict between Great Britain and Napoleon had 
now reached a point where it seemed impossible for the 
leading combatants to attack one another : Napoleon was 
supreme on the continent of Europe, and Britain was undis- 
puted mistress of the seas. The belligerents thereupon 
endeavored to injure one another indirectly: but the real 
sufferers during this later time were the American ship- 
owners, whose vessels were almost the only neutral ships 
on the ocean. 

232. Decrees and Orders, 1806-10. — Napoleon began 
the contest by closing the recently captured ports of Ham- 
burg and Bremen to British commerce, thus cutting off a 
profitable trade between Great Britain and Germany. The 
British government retaliated by declaring a blockade of 
the coast of the continent from Brest to the Elbe (May 16, 
1806), which was enforced only between the Seine and 
Ostend. Napoleon replied to this by the issue of the 
Berlin Decree (November 21, 1806), declaring the British 
Islands to be "in a state of blockade." He also forbade 
all trade in British goods throughout the lands under French 
control, which soon included all of continental Europe 
except Norway, Sweden, and Turkey. 

Jay's treaty was about to expire by limitation, and it was 



i8o6] The Impressment Controversy 323 

found impossible to induce the British government to enter Treaty with 
into a new agreement on a reasonable basis. On December ^'"^^* 

„ , ,, ' , TTT-ii- -r-.- 1 • 1 1 1 If Britain, 1800. 

I, 1806, Monroe and William Pinkney signed, on behalf winsor's 
of the United States, a new treaty, which contained many America, 
stipulations dishonorable to their country, among them a ^11,480. 
provision that the "Rule of War of 1756" would not be 




enforced in respect to goods upon which a two per cent ad 
valorem duty had been paid, on condition that no part of 
the duty had been returned as a "drawback." Neither 
impressment of American seamen nor indemnity for Brit- 
ish seizures were mentioned. Furthermore, the American 
negotiators consented to receive a note to the effect that 
the British government would not consider itself bound by 
the provisions of the treaty unless the United States would 
resist the enforcement of the Berlin Decree ! Jefferson sent 
the treaty bnck to Great Britain without formally laying it 
before the Senate. 

Early in the next year (January 7, 1807) the British gov- British 
ernment issued an Order in Council closing to neutral com- Orders in 
merce the ports of the continent, save those limited regions ^g 
that were not under French control. Later (November 
II, 1807), another Order in Council authorized the seizure 
of any neutral vessel while on a voyage to any of the closed 
ports, unless such vessel had first touched at a British port. 
In the Milan Decree, Napoleon retorted by authorizing 
the seizure of any vessel that had entered a British port 
(December 17, 1807). As the British controlled the ocean 
and Napoleon the continent of Europe these decrees meant 
the destruction of the American carrying trade. With Great 
Britain, moreover, the United States had another cause of 
grievance, — the controversy as to impressment. 

233. The Impressment Controversy, 1793-1807. — The American 
contest with France had hardly opened in 1793 ere British "^^^^^^^^'^^ 
naval captains began stopping American vessels on the high 



tion papers. 



The " right 



324 The Jeffersonian Republicans [§ 233 

seas, and taking seamen from them for service in the 
British navy. Some of the sailors impressed in this manner 
were subjects of the British crown, but many more were 
men who had given up their allegiance to Britain, and 
had become naturalized citizens of the United States 
or of some one state. Moreover, it was impossible to 
distinguish an Englishman from a native-born citizen of 
the United States, and many Americans were impressed, 
notwithstanding their statements as to the place of their 
birth. As the war progressed, the British practically block- 
aded the more important American ports and removed 
seamen from outgoing vessels before they had lost sight of 
land. Two very important questions at once arose: the 
ofseareh!" " right of search " and the value of naturalization papers. 

The American government denied the right of foreign 
cruisers to stop American vessels on the high seas for any 
purpose whatsoever except to ascertain their nationality. 
This position the United States maintained forever after- 
wards (pp. 413, 503). But Great Britain paid no heed to 
the American protests. The American system of naturali- 
zation was based on acts of Parliament : the first of these, 
which was passed in 1740, provided that foreign Protestants 
residing in the colonies for seven years and taking certain 
oaths should enjoy full civil rights in the colonies and 
many important privileges in Britain itself : the colonial 
assemblies, too, had passed acts for the naturalization of 
foreigners in the several colonies, oftentimes after a very 
brief period of residence, and the British government had 
not repealed or disallowed these acts. The naturalization 
system of the United States in 1807 was a reproduction of 
this colonial system, with the important exception that 
there was no longer a religious qualification. The British 
authorities, however, would not recognize it as in any way 
lessening the allegiance due from a British-born person to 
the British crown. There was undoubtedly some justifica- 
tion for the view British officers held as to naturalization; 
for in some states it was only necessary for a deserter 



I So;] Jefferson's Embargo Policy 325 

from an English ship to appear before the ofificial in charge 
of the matter in order to receive naturalization papers. 
Under these circumstances, whole crews deserted, and 
many vessels were detained in port in consequence. The 
real cause of these desertions was to be found in the hard- 
ships of the British naval service, — the lack of good 
food and quarters, the harshness of the discipline, and the 
low rate of wages paid to the sailors. These hardships 
were so great that the British seamen preferred to expatri- 
ate themselves rather than serve on British men-of-war. 
The British government, however, was not prepared to take 
this view and preferred to press British seamen wherever 
found. 

234. The Outrage on the CAesoyoeaA-e, 1807, — The mat- The 
ter reached a crisis on June 27, 1807, when the British ship Chesapeake 
Leopard fired on the American frigate Chesapeake, boarded Leopard 
her, and removed from her decks three American citizens 1807. 
and one British subject. Jefferson at once issued a procla- ^chouiers 
mation ordering all British war vessels out of the waters of states, 
the United States, and forbidding any intercourse with H. 163; 
them or the furnishing them with any supplies. He also j^a^^i 
demanded redress, but attempted to couple with the Chesa- 305-311. 
peake outrage the whole question of impressment. The 
British authorities, on their part, disavowed the admiral by 
whose orders the outrage had been committed, but refused 
to give up impressment. . While affairs were in this critical 
condition, the Order in Council of November, 1807, was 
issued. It is hardly conceivable that such a question should 
have been made the basis of party action, yet the Federal- 
ists denounced the President's proclamation as favoring 
the French, and the Northern merchants protested against 
anything being done that savored of hostility to Great 
Britain. 

235- Jefferson's Embargo Policy, 1807, 1808. — In April, 
1806, at the time of the enforcement of the " Rule of War of 
1756," Congress had passed an act forbidding the importa- 
tion of goods from Great Britain or the British colonies after 



326 The Jeffersonian Republicans [§ 235 

The November 15, of that year. This limit was further extended, 

embargo, ^^^ ^^ prohibition did not go into effect until December, 



1007. 



Sc 



houiers 1807. By that time, however, Jefferson deemed sterner 
Lhiited measures necessary, and recommended an embargo. Con- 

states, II, gress at once fell in with the President's wishes and passed 
an act forbidding American vessels to leave the ports of the 
United States for foreign ports, and prohibiting foreign ves- 
sels to sail except with the cargo actually on board. Embar- 
goes were no new thing in the history of the United States; 
they had hitherto been for limited periods and had been 
regarded as precursors of war, although no war had fol- 
lowed (p. 300). The policy of commercial restriction had 
been often used with great effect, as at the time of the 
Stamp Act and the Townshend duties (p. 154). Able 
and far-seeing men, as Sir John Seeley and Edward 
Atkinson, have recognized the fact that commerce, so far 
from making for peace among mankind, has been the cause 
of many of the great struggles of modern days. Jefferson's 
idea was to revive the policy of the Revolutionary epoch 
and to put a pressure on Great Britain and France by 
restricting their dealings with the United States. But cir- 
cumstances were changed : the American people were no 
longer united, as they had been in the earlier time; and it 
proved to be impossible to enforce the embargo policy in 
The Enforce- America. Even the Enforcement Act of 1808 proved of 
mentAct, \\\.\\.t value. This act required the owners of coasting 
vessels before the cargo was placed on board to give bonds 
to six times the value of the vessel and, if necessary, obliging 
them to land the goods in the United States. This 
requirement indicates one method of evasion of the 
Embargo Act, by vessels clearing for a coastwise port and 
then sailing to a foreign port. Another clause of the 
Enforcement Act was designed to prevent the evasion 
of the law by carrying goods overland to Canada or New 
Brunswick. This section authorized collectors of customs 
to seize goods "in any manner apparently on their way 
toward the territory of a foreign nation or the vicinity 



i8o7] 



Ejfects of the Embargo 



327 



Effect of tlie 
embargo 
on Great 
Britain. 



thereof." Even this severe measure could not secure the 
enforcement of the embargo; it led, however, to resistance 
to federal authority on Lake Champlain and threatened to 
lead to more formidable armed resistance in New England. 

236. Effects of the Embargo. — It is difficult to say 
precisely what effect the embargo had, either at home 
or abroad. It probably hastened a commercial crisis in 
Great Britain, which would have occurred had there been 
no embargo. This crisis affected the working classes of 
Britain, but as they had no political power their wishes for 
a change in England's commercial policy passed unheeded. 
The rulers of Britain regarded the embargo as rather bene- 
ficial to her interests, inasmuch as it operated to weaken 
the Republican party in the North and to increase the 
stcength and energy of the Federalists. 

Napoleon welcomed it and made it the excuse for two On France. 
more decrees: one of them, issued at Bayonne (1808), 
directed the seizure of all American vessels, on the 
ground that no ship flying the flag of the United States 
could legally navigate the seas; the other decree, issued at 
Rambouillet (18 10), ordered the confiscation of vessels 
then in French hands. 

In America, the embargo pressed heavily on Jefferson's On America, 
political supporters, the tobacco planters of Virginia, as 
large portions of their tobacco crops were unsalable. 
Many planters were ruined; others were seriously crippled. 
The shipowners of New England and the Middle states saw 
their ships lying idle when rates of freights were at the 
highest point. They evaded the law as long as they could, 
and at length, when forced to desist, they turned their atten- 
tion to manufacturing. From a constitutional and political 
point of view, the embargo worked a positive benefit, as 
the attempts to enforce it compelled the Republicans to 
resort to the implied powers under the Constitution, and 
to adopt almost the ground occupied by the Federalists 
in 1 798, which Jefferson and Madison had so strongly con- 
demned in the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions, By 



328 



The Jeffersonian Republicans [§ 237 



Non- 
intercourse 
Act, 1809. 
Schouler's 
United 
States, II, 
207-219. 



January, 1809, it was evident that to avoid civil strife the 
embargo policy must be abandoned. Madison had mean- 
time been elected President (November, 1808), and to him 
Jefferson confided the initiation of a new policy. 

237. The Non-intercourse Act, 1809. — In February, 
1809, it became known that Madison was in favor of a 
removal of the embargo in the following June; but no 




James Madison 

sooner was the subject of repeal brought forward in Con- 
gress, than it was decided to repeal the embargo law at 
once. In its place was substituted a non-intercourse law. 
This would still prohibit commerce with Great Britain and 
France, but would, on the other hand, permit it with the 
few countries not under the control of either of the bel- 
ligerents. The new policy, which was a better method 
of carrying out Jefferson's commercial theories, went into 
operation on the day of Madison's inauguration, March 
4, 1809. Instantly, there was a great revival in the carrying 
trade; for, although Russia had now joined France in the 



t8o9] 



The Erskine Treaty 



329 



continental system, Spain and Portugal were now free. 
This period witnessed a complete breaking down of the 
ordinary rules of international and commercial honesty. 
Napoleon gave licenses without number to British vessels to 
bring goods sorely needed by his soldiers into continental 
ports, while American papers, forged for the purpose, and 
also British protections, 
were openly sold in London. 
The neutrals profited most 
by this reign of commer- 
cial distress and corrup- 
tion ; the gains of American 
shipowners were enormous, 
although American vessels 
were- constantly captured 
by the belligerents. 

238. The Erskine Treaty, 
1809. — At first, fortune 
appeared about to smile on 
Madison ; a new British 
minister, Mr. Erskine, ap- 
peared at Washington, and 

concluded a treaty obliging Great Britain to withdraw the 
Orders in Council. Madison thereupon suspended non- 
intercourse with Great Britain, But Erskine had exceeded 
his instructions ; the British government disavowed him, 
refused to ratify the treaty, and Madison was obliged to 
proclaim a renewal of non-intercourse with that country. 
The next British envoy was named Jackson. He proceeded 
to insult Madison, accusing him of having deceived Erskine, 
and repeated the accusation. Madison declined to com- 
municate further with him and sent him home. 

On May i, 1810, Congress substituted for the Non- 
intercourse Act a modified commercial policy, which was 
contained in a bill known as Macon's Bill, No. 2, from the 
name of the member who introduced it. This law provided 
for the immediate cessation of non-intercourse ; but in case 




Mrs. Madison 



Treaty with 

Great 

Britain, 1809 

Sciiouler's 

United 

States, 

11.313- 



Macon's 
Bill. No. 2. 



330 



The Jeffersonian Republicans 



[§239 



The 

President 
and Little 
Belt. 
Maclay's 
Navy, I, 314. 



Cause of the 
War of 1812. 
Johnston's 
Orations, 
I, 205-215. 



one of the belligerents should revoke his decrees or orders, 
and the other should not, non-intercourse should be pro- 
claimed against the refractory country. Both France and 
Great Britain promised to change their policy as soon as the 
other changed his. But that was all they would do. So 
the offensive decrees and orders continued, and so, too, did 
non-intercourse. 

239. Declaration of War, 1812. — In the gathering gloom 
of a May evening ( 1 8 1 1 ) , the American frigate President 
and the British sloop of war Little Belt found themselves 
near together. Owing to some mischance, not now clearly 
discernible, they fired on each other, and the Little Belt 
was badly crippled. This affair induced the American 
people to feel more kindly about the Chesapeake outrage, 
and reparation was accepted without a settlement of the 
whole question of impressment, which in this way remained 
to keep alive a spirit of resentment toward the British 
nation. Another cause of ill feeling was the ever-recurring 
[Indian troubles in the West, some of which were plainly 
traceable to British intrigues. The most formidable of 
these was a revolt set on foot by an energetic Indian chief 
named Tecumthe or Tecumseh, who had formed a strong 
Indian federation. Gathering a small force of regulars, 
and volunteers from among the settlers of the West, Wil- 
liam Henry Harrison marched to the principal Indian town 
on Tippecanoe River and inflicted a crushing defeat on the 
Indians (181 1). Tecumthe joined the British, and thus 
justified the suspicions of the Western settlers. 

Another cause of the approaching conflict was the tone of 
self-satisfied superiority with which the British government 
and people were accustomed not merely to look upon the 
American people, but to speak of them, and even to address 
representatives of the United States government. For 
example. Lord Liverpool, at the moment Prime Minister, 
declared in 18 13 from his place in Parliament that America 
" ought to have looked to this country as the guardian power 
to which she was indebted not only for her comforts, not 



I8l2] 



Declaration of War 



331 



only for her rank in the scale of civilization, but for her 
very existence." The impressment controversy was now 
at its height, and British hostility to American commerce 
was as keen as ever. Bearing all these things in mind, it is 
not to be wondered at that the United States declared war 
against Great Britain ; it is indeed remarkable that the 
outbreak of hostilities was postponed until 181 2. 

The declaration of war was the work of a new set of 
political leaders, whose influence for good or evil was to 
dominate American politics for the next forty years. Fore- 
most among them was Henry Clay, born in Virginia, but 
now living in Kentucky ; perhaps no American politician 
has ever had a more faithful band of followers or has ever 
shown worse judgment. Henry Clay entered the House 
of Representatives for the first time in 181 1, and was at 
once elected Speaker. Another of the newcomers was 
John C. Calhoun of South Carolina ; at this period he was 
an ardent advocate of nationalization and of devoting the 
federal resources to the promotion of the general welfare of 
the people, — especially, he advocated a policy of protection 
to " young industries." Subsequently, he became the cham- 
pion of the other side, and by his fearlessness and power- 
fully logical faculties set forth the cause of state's rights in 
the clearest and most forcible manner. Two years later, 
Daniel Webster of New Hampshire, the third of this group, 
entered Congress. 

Clay represented the unrest of the Western people and 
their desire for the conquest of Canada. With the aid of 
other new men, he forced from the reluctant President his 
consent to a declaration of war against Great Britain. It 
is said that Madison was given to understand that his 
renomination for the presidency depended on his agreeing 
to this policy ; it is certain that he was drawn into the con- 
flict against his wishes ; but the New England Federalists 
always called it " Mr. Madison's War." 



Declaration 
of war, 18 12. 



Henry Clay. 

Schouler's 

United 

States, 

11,372; 

Schurz's 

Clay (^S. S.). 

John C. 
Calhoun. 
Von Hoist's 
Calhoun 
(S. S.). 



Daniel 

Webster. 

Lodge's 

Webster 

(S.S.); 

Schouler's 
United 
States, 
III, 298. 



232 Questions and Topics 

SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS AND TOPICS 
§§ 213-222. The United States in 1800 

a. What relations can you trace between the American Revolution, 
the French Revolution, and the " Revolution of 1800"? 

b. ^Vhat means did the American people take " to elevate the intel- 
lectual and material position of the average citizen"? 

c. How do you account for the fact that the white population in- 
creased much more rapidly in the free states than in the slave states? 

d. What is meant by saying that " the American people came into 
existence" in the period extending from 1800 to 1829? 

e. What are the two most important stocks of the human race? 
Name the chief branches of the Aryan stock, and the principal con- 
tributions to civilization made by each. 

f. Where besides in America have important amalgamations of Ger- 
manic and Keltic races taken place? What complementary qualities 
do these two races possess? 

g. Has any other material force so controlled the history of the 
United States as cotton ? 

§§ 223-226, 229-230. Domestic Affairs 

a. Read and compare the first inaugurals of Washington, JefFerson, 
and Lincoln. 

b. Place as heading in note-book " Spoils System and Civil Service 
Reform." Who began the system of partisan appointments ? 

c. How does the Constitution define treason ? Define as precisely 
as you can the following phrases: "levying war," "against them," 
"their enemies," " adhering to," "aid and comfort." Can one of the 
United States be guilty of treason ? Is civil war treason ? 

d. Look up the history of Massachusetts 1800-15: do you regard 
it as creditable? Give your reasons. 

§§ 227-228. The Louisiana Purchase 

a. Sketch the ownership of Louisiana under the following heads r 
discovery, settlement, cession of 1763, "right of deposit," retrocession 
to France. 

b. Why were the Federalists opposed to the Louisiana Purchase ? 
Discuss the effects of the purchase upon the West, the South, the East,, 
the general government. 

c. Does the " general welfare " clause empower the federal gov- 
ernment to acquire territory? Under what clause of the Constitution 
can you find such power ? 



Questions and Topics 333 

§§ 231-239. Foreign Relations 

a. State the specific purpose of each hostile commercial ordinance 
of the two belligerents. 

b. Describe Great Britain's impressment policy. What reasons can 
you suggest for her refusal to recognize the validity of American 
naturalization papers ? 

c. The embargo: discuss its constitutionality; its effect on constitu- 
tional development. What industrial revolution did it forward in New 
England ? 

Historical Geography 

a. Make all necessary changes in your maps, and justify these 
changes by recitation. 

General Questions 

a. Mention, with some account of their contents, the chief political 
documents of this epoch (1783-1812). Give a brief sketch of the 
careers of their authors. 

b. Subjects for reports based on secondary material: (i) What is 
the relation between the growth of manufacturing enterprises and the 
growth of cities ? (2) Compare the factory agitation in England with 
the emancipation movement in America. (3) Thomas Jefferson : his 
personal influence over his official advisers, over Congress ; contrast 
his theoretical language and his practical conduct ; discuss his honesty, 
his statesmanship ; describe his influence in retirement and the influ- 
ence of his name. (4) John Marshall: his career; instances of col- 
lision between the Judiciary and the Executive; the cases which form 
epochs in constitutional history; (5) trace the history of free and 
slave territory to 1819. 

c. Compare the momentous changes in the political life of the 
United States between 1801 and 1809. 



As preparation for the next two chapters study the following 
questions: 

a. Taxation : arguments for and against direct taxation ; should 
direct taxation be levied on capital, on income, or on expenditure? 
should the same percentage be levied on all equal amounts? what 
forms of indirect taxation are the most eligible? give Mill's seven 
practical rules for indirect taxation; under which class does excise 
come? customs duties? is it desirable to defray extraordinary public 
expenses by loans? state reasons. 



334 Questions and Topics 

b. Look up in Mill's Political Economy the passage which says that 
protection may be justifiable under certain conditions, and apply it to 
the United States in 1816, 1824, 1833, 1842, 1857, 1861, and 1897. 

c. Place in note-book the two headings, " Protection," " Free-trade," 
and enter fitting matter under them as you proceed. 

d. Read Fawcett's Free-trade and Protection and Hoyt's Protection 
vs. Free-trade, and compare the arguments. 



CHAPTER IX 

WAR AND PEACE, i8i 2-1829 

Books for Consultation 

General Readings. — Johnston's American Politics, "j-j-ioi; Hig- 
ginson's Larger History, 365-442; Hart's Formation of the Union, 
203-262; yN 3\V.tr^s Making of the Nation, 230-273. 

Special Accounts. — Schoulcr's United States ; Wilson's Presidents ; 
*Von Hoist's Constitutional History ; *H. Adams's United States; 
Morse's y. Q. Adams (S. S.) ; Gay's James Madison (S. S.); Von 
Hoist's John C. Calhoun (S. S.) ; Lodge's Daniel Webster (S. S.) ; 
?>\x\\\x\tx's Andrew Jackson {S). '$>.); Taussig's Tariff History ; Larned's 
History for Ready Reference. Larger biographies of the leading states- 
men, Guide, § 25. 

Sources. — Writings of the leading statesmen, Guide, §§ 32,33. 
Benton's Abridgment ; Williams's Statesman's Manual; Johnston's 
American Orations; Young's Customs- Tariff Legislation; Taussig's 
State Papers; Stedman and Hutchinson, Library of American Lit- 
erature ; MacDonald's Documents. 

Maps. — M.2iC ConWs Historical Geography ; HarVa Epoch Maps, 
Nos. 7, 8, 10, II; Winsor's America; Walker's Statistical Atlas; 
Scribner's Statistical Atlas. 

Bibliography. — Channing and Hart, Guide to American History, 
•§§ 56 a, 56 b (General Readings), §§ 1 72-179 (Topics and References). 

Illustrative Material. — *McMaster's United States; Lossing's 
Field-Book of the War of 1812 ; Armstrong's War of 1812; Roose- 
velt's Naval War of 181 2; Maclay's United States Navy; Coop- 
er's United States Navy ; James's Naval History of Great Britain; 
Coggeshall's American Privateers ; Goodrich's Recollections; Sullivan's 
Familiar Letters ; J. Q. Adams's Diary; Bishop's American Manu- 
factures ; King's New Orleans ; Barnes's Yankee Ships. 

Hildreth's The Slave; Longstreet's Georgia Scenes; Paulding's 
Lay of the Scottish FiddU ; Freneau's Poems. 

WAR AND PEACE, 181 2-1829 

240. Nature of the Conflict. — Perhaps no conflict has 
ever been undertaken with so little thought as to the means 



336 War and Peace [§ 240 

Lack of of carrying it to a successful termination as the War of 181 2. 

preparation 'phg excise tax of the Federalist period had been repealed 
^^ ^^'^' and nearly all the income of the government was derived 

from the customs revenue, which at once dwindled as 
imports declined. At first, Congress was unwilling to aug- 
ment this diminishing revenue by imposing direct taxes; 
but in 1 8 13 the increasing pressure of the war overcame 
even Republican scruples, and Congress imposed direct 
taxes on such articles as furniture and watches, and even 
on slaves. Congress also levied an excise. The war cost 
from thirty to forty millions for each year that it was waged; 
but the total revenue never exceeded ten millions per year. 
These deficits had to be made good by borrowing. As the 
war progressed, the credit of the government constantly 
declined, until finally loans were effected at far below their 
face value. 

The military forces were very ineffective. The Republi- 
cans had steadily opposed keeping up an efficient military 
organization. The war was very unpopular in the North, 
whence most of the soldiers and money were necessarily 
drawn, as that was the more populous and the richer portion 
of the country. This dislike of the war appeared when the 
government endeavored to summon the militia to take part 
in the invasion of Canada. The Constitution authorized 
Congress to " provide for calling forth the militia " for three 
specific purposes : " to execute the laws of the Union, sup- 
press insurrections, and repel invasions." The governors 
of Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Hampshire refused 
to send militia out of their respective states, and the gov 
ernor of Vermont recalled the Vermont militia when it was 
sent outside of the limits of the state. The old difficulty 
(p. 200) of enlisting men in the regular army for the war 
or for a term of years at once recurred. Bounties were 
offered in vain, and even the enlistment of minors, without 
their parents' consent, was resorted to. Had the contest 
continued much longer, resort would probably have been 
had to a draft. In these circumstances it was fortunate 



I8l2] 



British Defeat at New Orleans 



337 



that the British prosecuted the war but feebly during the 
years 1812 and 1813. 

241. Campaigns of 1812-14. — The invasion of Canada 
was begun with an ignorance and contempt of the necessi- 
ties of the campaign that augured ill for success. It ended 
in failure (18 12). On the other hand, the victory of the 
Americans under Commodore Oliver H. Perry, on Lake 
Erie (1813), made impossible an English occupation of 
American territory, and left the combatants practically 
where they were at the outbreak of hostilities. 

The campaign of 18 14 was much more vigorously man- 
aged by both combatants. On the American side abler 
men came to the front. One of them was Jacob Brown, a 
New York militia general, who had been bred a Quaker, as 
had Nathanael Greene. He had never seen service in the 
field, but possessed energy and courage ; and he was ably 
assisted by his subordinates, Winfield Scott and Eleazer 
Ripley. He accomplished nothing in the way of conquest, 
but repelled all attempts at invasion in his part of the field. 
Indeed, one of the battles of his campaign, Lundy's Lane, 
where a small body of Americans withstood the onslaught 
of a body of British veterans, was a most creditable affair, 
especially as it occurred in the darkness, which is peculiarly 
trying to soldiers who have not had years of experience. 
The British undertook a counter invasion of the United States 
by way of Lake Champlain; but McDonough's victory gave 
the control of the lake to the Americans, and the British 
retired to Canada (181 4). 

The summer that saw this victory witnessed also the 
disgraceful flight of the Americans from Bladensburg, and 
the unjustifiable burning of the public buildings at Wash- 
ington by the British under General Ross and Admiral 
Cochrane. A subsequent attack on Baltimore was gallantly 
repelled by its American defenders, with considerable loss 
to the assailants. 

242. The British Defeat at New Orleans, 1814, 1815. — 
By this time it had become evident that British success in 



Invasion of 

Canada, 

1812-13. 

Winsor's 

America, 

VII, 382-385 

387-392 ; 

Maclay's 

Navy, I, 

492-520. 

Failure of 

British 

invasion, 

1814. 

Winsor's 

America, 

vn. 393- 
400; 

Schouler's 
United 
States, 
11.397,446. 



Winsor's 
America, 
VII, 396; 

Maclay's 
Navy, II, 
27-39- 



Burning of 

Washington. 

1814. 

Winsor's 

America, 

VII, 400-402, 



338 



War and Peace 



[§ 243 



New 

Orleans, 
18 14-15. 
Winsor's 
America, 
403-404 ; 
Schouler's 
United 
States, II, 
457. 485-491- 



New 
Orleans, 
1814-15. 
King's New 
Orleans, 
ch. xi. 



The navy. 

Winsor's 

America, 

vn,378; 

Roosevelt's 
Naval War 

Maclay's 
Navy, I, 

317-575. 
II, 1-82. 



the interior of the North was uncertain until the control 
either of the Great Lakes or of Lake Champlain was in 
their hands. The capture of New Orleans offered the best 
chance of permanent conquest: it was within reach of the 
sea, was far removed from the thickly settled part of the 
United States; and its possession would give the British 
important and far-reaching influence in the whole Missis- 
sippi valley. Pakenham, one of Wellington's Peninsular 
commanders, was given a formidable body of troops and 
ordered to attempt its capture; with him co-operated a 
large naval force. 

The command of the defense of the lower Mississippi 
and neighboring regions was confided to Andrew Jackson 
of Tennessee. At first he seems to have misjudged 
Pakenham's purpose, and delayed preparations for defense 
until it was almost too late. At last, when he was con- 
vinced that the British general designed to seize New 
Orleans, he made every possible preparation to repel the 
attack ; in this he was greatly aided by the peculiarities of 
.the country around New Orleans, which will be described 
when we reach Farragut's capture of that city (p. 503). 
Pakenham attacked vigorously, though with small military 
skill; he was repulsed with great loss to his army. The 
last assault on the defenses of New Orleans was made on 
January 8, 18 15, two weeks after the signing of the treaty 
of peace at Ghent. A month later (February 11, 181 5), 
the British captured an American fort on Mobile Bay, their 
only success during this arduous campaign. 

243. The "War on the Sea, 1812-15. — On the land, where 
their numbers gave them an advantage, the Americans were 
on the whole unsuccessful; on the water, where their guns 
were outnumbered one hundred to one, they won successes 
which still render the War of 181 2 memorable in naval 
annals. At the beginning of the conflict, the British navy 
comprised over one thousand vessels, of which two hun- 
dred were line of battle ships of two or three decks; there 
was not even one two-decker in the United States navy. 



t8i2] The War on the Sea 339 

Moreover, the American vessels were not merely inferior in 
size to the British, there were very few of them, — seven- 
teen vessels in all. Three of them, the United States, 
Constitution, and President, were large, heavy frigates rated 
as "forty- fours," and there were also four smaller frigates 
and several sloops of war and brigs. 

The government deemed it unwise to send these vessels Naval 
to sea to be captured by the fleets of Great Britain, and ^f"^"^*-^- 

1-11 1 11-1 Winsor s 

decided to use them as guard ships at the principal ports. America, 
A difficulty at once presented itself, however, for the ves- vii, 379-382, 
sels were not in the ports designed for them ; and it was ^ " 
necessary to send them to sea to enable them to perform even 
this limited duty. Among the first to leave port was the 
Constitution, commanded by Captain Hull. On her way 
from the Chesapeake to New York harbor, her designated 
place of duty, she was sighted by a British squadron of five 
ships and chased from July 17 to July 20. In the end, 
Hull saved his ship and found refuge at Boston. Sailing 
thence, with no new orders, he cruised about for two 
weeks, until August 19, when he sighted the British frigate 
Gtierriere in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The combat which 
followed has been made the subject of so much apology 
on the part of British writers that it is well to bear in 
mind the comparative size of the two ships. Mr. Henry 
Adams thus states the facts in his authoritative History of 
the United States during the Administrations of Jefferson and 
Madison. The American frigate was one hundred and 
seventy-three feet long and forty-four feet wide; she car- 
ried thirty-two " long 24's " and twenty "32 lb." carronades, 
or fifty-two guns in all. Her sides were very solid for a 
ship of her class, but notwithstanding the extra weight she 
was very fast. The Guerriere was one hundred and fifty- 
six feet long and forty feet wide; she carried thirty "long 
i8's," two "long 12's," and sixteen "32 lb. " carronades, or 
forty-eight guns in all. She was not so strongly built as 
her opponent, nor so fast, and she threw a much lighter 
broadside. Both Captain Hull of the Constitution and 



340 War and Peace [§ 243 

Captain Dacres of the Guerriere were skillful, brave men, 
and the crews of both ships were well trained, although the 
Guerriere's crew had been longer together. In thirty 
minutes after the first gun was fired, the British frigate lay 
helpless on the water, with seventy-nine of her crew killed 
or wounded. The Co?istitiition, on the other hand, suffered 
trifling loss or damage, and was ready for another combat. 
On October 1 7 the American sloop of war Wasp met the 
British brig Frolic. The Wasp threw a lighter broadside 
than the Frolic, and, although rigged as a ship, was only 
six feet longer. In forty-three minutes after the beginning 
of the combat, the Frolic was a wreck, with ninety of her 
crew of one hundred and ten killed and wounded. In both 
cases the result was due to the superior practice of the 
American gunners and to the fact that the charges of powder 
used by the British were less than those used by the Ameri- 
cans for guns of the same caliber. It is said that shot from 
the Guerriere rebounded harmlessly from the sides of the 
Constitution, and the guns of the Frolic, more than equal 
in weight to those of the Wasp, produced, comparatively 
speaking, no impression on her antagonist. 
Effects of The effect of these victories was tremendous. For a 

century and a half the British had enjoyed undisputed 
supremacy on the ocean; ship for ship, they had encoun- 
tered the navies of France and Spain, and had been almost 
uniformly successful. Instead of seeking the true cause for 
these defeats, in the light armaments of their vessels and 
in the character of their impressed crews, the British public 
magnified the Constitution into a "line of battle ship in 
disguise," and suggested that in future it would be best 
for British frigates to sail in company. There were many 
other naval actions during the contest which are described 
at length in the histories of the war and need not be men- 
tioned here. As the conflict progressed, the blockade of 
the American ports became closer and closer; few of the 
national vessels gained the open sea, and those that did 
were gradually captured. In the later years, the privateers 



these victo 
ries. 



i8i4] The Privateers 341 

almost alone displayed the flag of the United States on the 
ocean. 

244. The Privateers. — Mr. Henry Adams has suggested The 
that it would have been better policy for the United States '^°'"'"^''ce 
to have used the national vessels to destroy the merchant 
vessels of England. Men-of-war capturing British mer- 
chantmen would have destroyed them; the privateers, whose 
interest was to make money from the sale of prizes, sent 

them home, and about one half were recaptured. As it 
was, the privateersmen dealt a terrible blow to Britain's 
commerce. In the course of the war they captured more 
than two thousand five hundred British vessels, some of 
them within sight of the coast of England. Rates of insur- 
ance on British vessels rose to almost prohibitory figures, 
even for the shortest voyages. English merchants and ship- 
owners whose self-seeking had largely contributed to bring 
on the war, now besought the government to conclude 
peace ; to this end McDonough's victory on Lake Cham- 
plain powerfully contributed. 

245. Negotiations for Peace, 1 812-14. — From an inter- Mistaken 
national point of view, the War of 181 2 was a terrible mis- £°'^and 
fortune. Great Britain was then engaged in a deadly struggle 

with the military despotism that threatened to overwhelm 
popular freedom wherever it existed in the world. No doubt 
Napoleon had dealt a beneficial blow to feudal institutions, 
but he had already done all the good that he was likely to 
do in that way. In 1812 the cause of humanity and civili- 
zation demanded his overthrow. True policy dictated the 
alliance of Great Britain and the United States to destroy 
the master despot of the age. Instead of joining together 
against the common enemy, they came to blows, but this was 
the fault of Britain's rulers, not of the American people. 

Four days after the declaration of war against Great The Czar 
Britain, Napoleon and the Czar renewed their former intervenes. 

Winsors 

enmity, because Russia would no longer close the Baltic America, 
ports to neutral commerce. The Czar at once offered to vil,483. 
mediate between Great Britain and the United States, whose 



342 



War and Peace 



[§ 246 



Negotiations 
for peace, 
1814. 
Winsor's 
America, 
VII, 484-487. 



Treaty of 
Ghent, 1814. 
Schouler's 
United 
States, II, 
477-485. 



conflict could not fail to weaken the opposition of the 
former to Napoleon. Madison grasped at the proffered 
good offices of Russia, and appointed commissioners to 
represent the United States; but Great Britain would not 
accept this mediation. The British government could not 
afford to appear unmindful of the wishes of the Czar, its 
most powerful ally against Napoleon, and announced its 
willingness to negotiate directly with the United States; 
but it was not sincere in its desire for peace, and the 
commissioners did not come together until the summer of 
1 8 14. The Americans were five in number; among them 

/y^y^ were Albert Gallatin, John 

/^^C^^^'-^t-i^ ^:^^^^i^,,±:^- Quincy Adams, son of John 
/^^ Adams, and Henry Clay. To 

the absence of Clay from Congress has been attributed 
much of the extraordinary imbecility of that body during 
this period. 

It is likely that the British government chose this moment 
to begin negotiations in the expectation that the successes 
of her armies in 1814 would induce the Americans to cede 
to Great Britain a strip of territory south of the Great Lakes. 
Brown's energetic defense of the posts on those lakes, and 
the collapse of the invasion by way of Lake Champlain, 
put an abrupt ending to these hopes, and the British negotia- 
tors were ordered to conclude the treaty as soon as possible. 
The treaty was signed at Ghent on December 24, 1814. 
before the fate of Pakenham's expedition was known, and 
even before the conflict which usually goes by the name of 
the battle of New Orleans had taken place. 

246. The Treaty of Ghent, 1814. — The treaty provided 
for a restoration of conquests by both parties, and for the 
appointment of commissions to arrange the outstanding 
boundary disputes between the two powers and to settle 
some other matters of difference. The important issues 
which led up to the war were not even mentioned in the 
treaty of peace. The Orders in Council had been with- 
drawn before the conflict began, and the rights of neutrals 



i8i4] 



Treaty of Ghent 



343 



had ceased to be an issue of vital moment since the fall of 
Napoleon. The successes of the American cruisers had 
contributed materially toward the settlement of the ques- 
tions of impressment, the right of search, and blockades; 
they never again became serious in the sense that they 
were before 1812. The British commissioners at Ghent 
had contended that the fishery privileges accorded to the 
citizens of the United States in the treaty of 1783 had ter- 
minated the moment war had broken out between the two 
nations. The Americans declared, on the contrary, that 
the articles in that treaty relating to the fisheries, having 
once gone into operation, were not affected by a subse- 
quent war, any more than were the provisions relating to 
boundaries. On the other hand, they argued that the 
clause in the earlier treaty, granting the free use of the 
Mississippi to British subjects (p. 229), had ceased to 
operate the moment war began. As no agreement could 
be reached on these points, further consideration of them 
was deferred until a more convenient opportunity. The 
news of the conclusion of peace and of Jackson's victory 
at New Orleans reached Washington at almost the same 
moment. The Republican party at once regained its former 
place in the people's esteem. To this consummation also 
the Federalists strongly contributed by a most inopportune 
display of hostility to the administration and to its policy. 

247. The Hartford Convention, 1814, 1815. — Six days Discontent 
before Jackson repelled Pakenham's last assault at New 
Orleans, the Hartford Convention adjourned. To under- 
stand this movement, we must examine at some length the 
course pursued by Massachusetts during the war. In the 
first place, it must be understood that New England had 
borne its full share in the conflict, notwithstanding the 
great unpopularity of the war in that section and the con- 
test over the militia. To make this fact clear, it is 
only necessary to compare the parts borne by Virginia 
and by Massachusetts. The latter contained, according to 
the census of 18 10, about seven hundred thousand inhabit- 



in New 

England, 

1812-14. 



344 



War and Peace 



[§ 247 



Opposition 
to the ad- 
ministration, 
1513-14. 



ants; Virginia is credited in the same census with nine 
hundred and seventy thousand inhabitants, of whom five 
hundred and fifty thousand were negro slaves. In accord- 
ance with the federal ratio (p. 238), Virginia sent to Con- 
gress twenty-three members, Massachusetts twenty. The 
latter state furnished four times as much money for the 
support of the conflict as Virginia, and contributed more 
men to the armies of the United States during the war — 
apart from sailors on national vessels and in privateers — 
than did the states of Virginia, North Carolina, and South 
Carolina combined. On the other hand, the government 
withdrew its garrisons from the Massachusetts seaboard forts 
and harassed what was left of her commerce with an em- 
bargo. 

The leading men of New England had no confidence what- 
ever in the Southern and Western politicians who guided 
the policy of the government. They felt keenly the slights 
put upon New England, and resented the acts of the admin- 
istration, many of which were of doubtful constitutionality, 
to say the least. They had recourse to the precedents of 
pre-revolutionary times, and followed in the footsteps of 
the leaders of the Republican party in 1798-99. The 
legislatures of Connecticut and Massachusetts passed laws 
directly in conflict with the act of Congress provid- 
ing for the enlistment of minors, and subjected to fine 
and imprisonment those engaged in carrying the law into 
practice. On February 18, 18 13, a committee of the 
Massachusetts legislature reported that "the sovereignty 
reserved to the states [in the Constitution] was reserved to 
protect the citizens from acts of violence by the United 
States. . . . We spurn the idea that the sovereign state of 
Massachusetts is reduced to a mere municipal corporation. 
. . . When the national compact is violated, and the 
citizens of the state are oppressed by cruel and unauthor- 
ized law, this legislature is bound to interpose its power 
and wrest from the oppressor its victim." The campaign 
of 1 8 14 brought no relief to New England; the British, 



i8i5] Results of the War 345 

who in the earlier years of the war had forborne to attack 
that section, now waged active hostilities on the New Eng- 
land coast. They seized the eastern towns in Maine, 
levied contributions on many seaboard places, and bom- 
barded Stonington in Connecticut. October of that year 
found the New Englanders in a sterner frame of mind than 
before. The legislature of Massachusetts suggested that a 
conference of delegates of the New England states should 
be summoned, to propose such measures as were "not 
repugnant to their obligations as members of the Union." 
The conference, or convention, as it was ordinarily termed, The 
was held at Hartford (December, 1814, to January, 18 15). Hartford 
It adopted resolutions suggesting that the New Englanders xtil-ix '°"" 
should be permitted to defend themselves and should Schouier's 
therefore retain a reasonable portion of the federal taxes ^^'^'^'^ 

1 , T 1 T ■ , States, II, 

assessed upon them, it also suggested certain amend- 469-476. 
ments to the Constitution, and laid down the constitutional 
doctrines applicable to the matter in language which must 
have sounded most unpleasantly familiar to Jefferson and 
Madison : 

" In cases of deliberate, dangerous, and palpable infrac- 
tions of the Constitution, affecting the sovereignty of a state 
and liberties of the people; it is not only the right but the 
duty of such a state to interpose its authority for their pro- 
tection. . . . When emergencies occur which are . . . 
beyond the reach of the judicial tribunals, . . . states 
which have no common umpire must be their own judges 
and execute their own decisions" (compare p. 286). 

It was often the fate of the Federalist party to propose 
action either too early or too late. The commissioners 
sent to Washington to arrange for a reasonable division of 
the proceeds of the federal taxes reached the capital to find 
peace declared. They hastened home amid the jeerings 
of the Republican press. 

248. Results of the War. — The war cost the American Cost of the 
people the lives of thirty thousand men, and as many more 
were wholly or partly incapacitated from leading happy, 



war. 



346 



War and Peace 



[§ 249 



Results of 
the war. 
Schouler's 
United- 
States, II, 
492, 501 ; 
Johnston's 
Orations, I, 
219. 



New 

economic 

conditions. 



vigorous lives. The national debt rose by leaps and 
bounds, until in 1816 it amounted to one hundred and 
twenty-seven million dollars; about one hundred millions 
of this sum was an absolute increase of the debt. The 
actual money cost of the war was much greater, and was 
probably not less than two hundred million dollars. On 
the other side of the account, there was absolutely nothing 
material to show for this great expenditure of human life, 
this amount of human suffering, and this mass of treasure. 

Indirectly and unconsciously there was a gain not to be 
measured in human lives or in dollars: the American people 
ceased to be provincial and began to appreciate its oneness, 
it began to feel and to act as a nation. Before this time 
American politics had been dominated by European poli- 
tics, — there had been British parties and parties favoring 
France. The War of 181 2, and the economic changes 
consequent on the restoration of peace in Europe, com- 
pletely changed these conditions. Northern capitalists 
competing with the manufacturers of Britain forgot their 
former friendships; on the other hand, the cotton planters 
of the South found in the British manufacturers their best 
customers; they, too, became forgetful of their former 
hatred of all things British. Furthermore, the pressure of 
the conflict compelled the federal government to adopt 
measures which even Hamilton would have feared to sug- 
gest, while the Federalists, soon to disappear as a party, 
became the champions of strict construction. In this way 
democracy and nationalism grew together. The War of 
181 2 has been often and truly called the Second War of 
Independence, which should be understood to mean not 
merely independence of other nations, but of the conditions 
of colonial life. 

249. Altered Industrial Conditions, 1816. — On the return 
of peace it at once became evident that new economic forces 
had come into existence. These new factors in national 
progress were to exert a powerful influence on the course 
of politics and to determine the positions to be assumed 



i8i6] Early Tariff Legislation 347 

by political leaders. It will be well to consider this subject 
with some care. 

During the period of commercial restriction and of war, 
the Northern capitalists had been obliged to find new means 
of employment for their idle funds, which could no longer be 
profitably invested in the shipping interests. They turned 
their attention to manufacturing enterprises and established 
the textile industries of the North. As soon as peace was 
concluded, British manufacturers sought to regain their 
former profitable markets in the United States. They sent 
immense quantities of goods to the American ports, and the 
Northern manufacturers saw the markets for their cottons, 
woolens, and iron rapidly slipping from them. They could 
not return to the shipowning industry to advantage, as the 
general peace which now prevailed brought their vessels 
into competition with those of all the maritime nations of 
Europe. They appealed to Congress for aid in the shape 
of a protective tariff, which would preserve the home market 
to them. One result of this appeal was the Tariff Act of 
1 8 16. A more important outcome of this change in thg, 
economic development of the country was the extinction 
of the Federalist party. It was now powerless to aid the 
Northern mill owners in securing the requisite legislation; 
they turned for aid to the Republicans, and the Federalist 
party, abandoned in the house of its friends, disappeared 
as a political organization. 

250. Early Tariff Legislation, 1789-1815. — The act for Protection, 
raising revenue, passed in 1789, had for one object "the 1789-1815. 
protection of manufactures," but the rates levied in that 
act were too low to give an effective impulse to young 
industries. It should also be said that the country was not 
then prepared for the establishment of manufacturing enter- 
prises on an extended scale. Subsequent acts had increased 
the rates of taxation on imports, and had thereby given 
added protection. This was especially true of a law passed 
in 181 2 for doubling all the duties; but these later acts 
were designed to provide revenue — whatever protection 



348 



War and Peace 



[§25» 



Growth of 
manufac- 
turing 
industries, 
1800-15. 



Calhoun and 
Webster on 
protection. 



they afforded was incidental. The embargo and non-inter- 
course laws had also operated to give protection, and so 
had the high rates of freight which the commercial pohcy 
of Great Britain and France made inevitable. The War of 
181 2 had added to the encouragement afforded by these 
earlier restrictions on commerce, and in 18 15 the textile 
industries of the North may be considered to have been 
estabUshed. 

251. Growth of Textile Industries, 1800-15. — The 
development of the manufacture of cotton was extraordi- 
nary. In 1803 there were four cotton factories in the 
country; five years later there were fifteen mills, with eight 
thousand spindles. By 181 1 the number of spindles had 
increased tenfold, to eighty thousand, and in 1815 there 
were five hundred thousand spindles in operation. The 
home consumption of cotton tells the same story of rapid 
growth: in 1800 American manufacturers used five hun- 
dred bales; in 18 15 they consumed ninety thousand bales. 
The question which came before Congress in 18 16 was 
whether this rapidly growing industry should be crushed by 
foreign competition or should be permitted to live. If the 
latter course commended itself to Congress, the best way 
to secure it was to lay so heavy a duty on foreign cotton 
cloth that its importation would be unprofitable. 

The case was somewhat the same as to the woolen and 
iron industries, although the story of their rise is not so 
striking as that just related of the cotton manufacture. 

252. Tariff Act of 1816. — Congress was still controlled 
by the politicians who had urged on the declaration of war 
in 181 2. At this period in his career Calhoun was in favor 
of a strong nationalizing policy. " Let us make great per- 
manent roads . . . for . . . defense and connecting more 
closely the interests of various sections of this great coun- 
try," he said in 18 16, and he strongly advocated protection 
"to encourage . . . domestic industry." Even Jefferson 
declared that the manufacturer and the agriculturist must 
stand side by side. On the other hand, Webster, represent- 



i8i6] Monroe's Administrations 349 

ing the shipping interests of Boston, strongly opposed pro- 
tection, and John Randolph sounded an unheeded note of 
warning when he declared that the proposed tariff would 
bear heavily "upon poor men and slaveholders." 

The act as it was passed (April 27, 1816) imposed a duty Tariff Act of 
of about twenty per cent on all cotton and woolen goods ^^^^• 
imported from abroad, and specific duties on salt and iron 
imported. In addition, " the minimum principle " was 
adopted. This provided that no duty on cotton and 
woolen goods should be less than six and one quarter 
cents per yard. As this rate was far more than twenty-five 
per cent of the price of coarse fabrics which were worn 
by slaves in the South, the tariff was unfavorable to the in- 
terests of Southern slaveholders. 

253. Monroe's Administrations, 1817-25. — In 1816 a Monroe 
presidential election was held. Following the example set ^'^cted 
by Washington and Jefferson, Madison declined to be a jg^g 
candidate for a third term, and James Monroe of Virginia 
was elected President. In earlier life Monroe had been 
an advanced democrat, but his ardor had cooled. He had 
forgotten many of Jefferson's early teachings, and had 
become almost, if not quite, as much in favor of building 
up a strong central government as any Federalist had been. 
As a diplomatist, Monroe had served long abroad, but 
had not gained great success ; in 1806 he had put his 
name to a treaty with Great Britain which Jefferson would 
not even submit to the Senate (p. 323). Monroe had 
then retired into private hfe, from which he had come 
at Madison's request to take the position of Secretary of 
State. During the War of 181 2, he had shown unexpected 
strength ; he had resisted unwise popular demands and 
had risen above the position of the ordinary party chief 
He was a man eminently fitted to lead the nation in 
the peaceful times which were now approaching. Party 
spirit declined, and Monroe was re-elected President 
in 1820 with only one vote lacking, that withheld by 
a New Hampshire elector who was determined^ so the 



350 



War and Peace 



[§254 



Policy of 
nationaliza- 
tion. 



Marshall's 
decisions. 



story goes — that Washington should be the only man 
unanimously elected to the presidency. 

254. The Policy of Nationalization. — Monroe fell in 
with the popular demand for nationalization, for protec- 
tion, and for public improvements. The Tariff Act of 18 16 
had been passed with the aid of votes from all sections of 
the country. The new leaders of the Republican party 

adopted the preva- 
lent ideas of nation- 
alization, and the 
Supreme Court, in a 
series of remarkable 
decisions, prepared 
the way for the carry- 
ing out of the new 
policy. One of 
these decisions was 
given by Chief Jus- 
tice John Marshall, 
in the case of Mc- 
Culloch vs. Mary- 
land. The case arose 
out of the attempt of 
the state of Maryland 
to tax the Second 
United States Bank, 
which was chartered 
in 1816. In deliver- 
ing the decision of 
the court, the Chief Justice said in substance: A national 
bank is an appropriate means to carry out some of the 
implied powers A 

conferred on the //' 
national govern- ^^ ^ 
ment by the Con- /^ 
stitution. If the end is within the scope of the Constitution, 
all means which are plainly adapted to that end, and which 




James Monroe 



i8i6] The Policy of Nationalization 35 1 

are consistent with the spirit of the organic law, are consti- * 

tutional. A similar course of reasoning would have upheld 
the constitutionality of the tariff and perhaps internal im- 
provements as well. In other decisions the Supreme Court 
greatly restricted the functions of the states, as in the case 
of Fletcher vs. Peck and in the Dartmouth College case, 
where the clause of the Constitution (Art. i, § lo) forbidding 
the states to pass any law impairing the obligation of con- 
tracts was held to mean that the state of Georgia could not 
revoke grants of land fraudulently obtained, and that the 
state of New Hampshire could not modify a charter granted 
to a corporation before the Revolution. In these and other 
decisions, the power of the states was greatly diminished, 
and that of the United States in the same measure increased. 

This great increase of authority to the national govern- Settlement of 
ment and the complete change of attitude of the dominant *^^ West, 
party on questions of interpretation of the Constitution, was 
due in part to the rapid settlement of the West. Six states 
were admitted to the Union between 1816 and 182 1, of 
which five were west of the Alleghanies, and one of them, 
Missouri, west of the Mississippi. The Westerners desired 
better means of transport, and looked to the general govern- 
ment to construct roads and canals and to improve rivers 
and harbors; they desired, too, to have some of their prod- 
ucts protected, as hemp and wool. One of Madison's last 
acts as President had been to veto a bill devoting fifteen 
hundred thousand dollars, which the Second United States 
Bank paid for its charter, to the construction of roads and 
canals and the improvement of rivers. Madison, like 
Jefferson, favored internal improvements; but, like Jeffer- 
son, he believed them to be beyond the powers conferred 
on the general government by the Constitution; an amend- 
ment would be necessary to make such acts legal. Monroe 
took a similar view, and in 1822 vetoed a bill for the repair 
of the Cumberland road, which had been built out of the 
proceeds of the public lands. In the next year (1823) the 
first step was taken in the appropriation of money by Con- 



352 



War and Peace 



[§255 



Relations 
with Great 
Britain, 
1815-18. 



Commercial 
convention, 
1815. 



Treaty of 
1818. 
Winsor's 
America, 
VII, 489. 



gress for the improvement of harbors, but the matter did 
not assume important proportions until after the close of 
Monroe's second term. 

255. Relations with Great Britain, 1815-18, — The 
Treaty of Ghent had ended the war with Great Britain, 
but it had left many important questions to be decided by 
future negotiations. These were at once begun. The 
British government, although not in precisely a concilia- 
tory frame of mind, was more reasonable than it had evei 
been before. In 1815 it consented to a commercial con- 
vention which opened a portion of the British West India 
trade to American vessels; the convention also contained 
an important provision designed to secure the abolition of 
discriminating duties and charges in either country against 
the vessels and goods of the other. This arrangement was 
limited to four years, but was extended for ten years longer 
in 1818. In the latter year an important treaty was nego- 
tiated in regard to the fisheries and the northern boundary 
of the United States. With regard to the fisheries, the 
United States consented to give up some of its rights under 
the treaty of 1783; Great Britain, on her part, recognized 
the remainder as being permanent in character; she also 
gave up her rights to the navigation of the Mississippi. 
The northern boundary was to follow the forty-ninth par- 
allel from the Lake of the Woods to the Rocky or Stony 
Mountains, as they were then termed. The United States 
in this way abandoned a small portion of Louisiana and 
acquired a valuable bit of territory in the basin of the Red 
River of the North. (Map No. IV.) As to Oregon, or 
the region lying between the Rocky Mountains and the 
Pacific, north of the Spanish possessions in California, no 
agreement as to division could be reached. It was arranged, 
therefore, that both Great Britain and the United States 
should occupy it jointly for ten years. 

An attempt was also made to come to some conclusion 
in regard to the suppression of the African slave trade; but 
agreement was impossible, owing to the divergent ideas of 



i8i8] 



Relations with Spain 



353 



the two governments as to the "right of search," since 
the United States refused to permit British men-of-war to 
stop and search vessels flying the American flag. 

256. Relations with Spain, 1810-19. — It will be remem- 
bered that the desire of the United States to acquire West 
Florida and New Orleans had brought about the Louisiana 
Purchase, which Spain had steadily maintained did not 
include West Florida (p. 318). In 1810 and 1812 the 
United States had seized a portion of that province, but had 
left the remainder and East Florida in the hands of Spain. 
This matter gave rise to constant irritation; Spain refused 
to recognize the title of the United States to West Florida or 
to sell East Florida. The American government, on its part, 
held fast to the territory it had seized and endeavored to 
buy the eastern province. East Florida was of slight value 
to Spain, and the Spanish government was so beset with 
difficulties in Europe and America (p. 355) that it could 
not properly govern any of its American possessions. East 
Florida was used by all sorts of fugitives from the United 
States, — white, black, and red. It was also a convenient 
base for the organization of smuggling expeditions into the 
United States. The situation was especially grave as to 
the Indians, for whenever those in Georgia and Alabama 
rebelled, they fled across the frontier to Florida and re- 
ceived shelter and assistance from its inhabitants. In 18 18 
General Jackson pursued a body of maurauding Seminoles 
across the boundary. Finding that they were aided by the 
Spanish settlers at St. Marks and Pensacola, he seized those 
two places. While in Florida he also executed two British 
subjects, Arbuthnot and Ambrister, who appeared to be 
intriguing with the natives against the United States. 

Jackson's raid aroused discussion in the cabinet: John 
Quincy Adams, Monroe's Secretary of State, defended it; 
all the other members of the administration disapproved it; 
one of them, John C. Calhoun, Secretary of War, proposed 
that Jackson should be tried by a court-martial for insub- 
ordination, but nothing was done. 



Relations 

with Spain, 

1810-19. 

Winsor's 

America, 

VII. 497. 

543- 



Jackson 

invades 

Florida, 

1818. 

Schouler's 

United 

States. Ill, 

57-93- 



354 



War and Peace 



[§257 



Purchase of 257. The Florida Treaty, 1 81 9. — Negotiations had been 
Florida, 1819. \\\ progress for some time for the purchase of East Florida, 
or, as we may now call it, Florida, and the settlement of 
all existing disputes with Spain. The negotiations were 
brought to a conclusion by a treaty which was signed at 
Washington (18 19) and was ratified in 182 1. By this 
instrument, Spain ceded Florida to the United States and 



Winsor's 
America, 
VII, 499. 




Tlie line of 
1819. 



The United States, 1819 

abandoned all claim to lands lying east and north of the 
following line : beginning at the mouth of the Sabine River, 
this line followed that stream to the 32d degree of latitude, 
thence due north to the Red River, and along that river to the 
one hundredth meridian ; from that point the line ran due 
north to the Arkansas, and followed the southern bank of that 
stream to its source, thence northward or southward, as the 
case might be, to the forty-second parallel and along that 
line to the Pacific Ocean. The United States abandoned 
its claim to lands south and west of this line and agreed to 



J8I93 



The Florida Treaty 



355 



pay five million dollars to American citizens who had claims 
against Spain for property which had been wrongfully seized. 
The effect of this settlement was that the United States 
acquired Florida and gave up Texas. The letters which 
were written by John Quincy Adams during this long nego- 
tiation are of great importance in diplomatic history. Sin- 
gularly enough, it was reserved for his grandson, Henry 
Adams, to prove conclusively that the United States had a 
perfect title to Texas. 

The Florida treaty was signed on February 22, 18 19, and 
was ratified by the Senate without opposition or delay. 
Spain, however, postponed ratification for nearly two years. 
At last, in 182 1, the agreement was completed. Jackson 
was appointed governor of the new territory of Florida, 
which was admitted to the Union as a state in 1845. 
Those portions of the old province of West Florida which 
were seized in 18 10 and 181 2 were added to the states of 
Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama, giving the two latter 
access to the Gulf of Mexico. 

258. The Spanish-American Colonies, 1808-22. — The 
Spanish-American colonies in South and Central America 
and Mexico had originally thrown off their allegiance to 
the Spanish monarch when Napoleon thrust his brother on 
the Spanish throne (1808), but on the restoration of the old 
monarchy they had returned to their obedience to the 
sovereign of Spain. In the interval they had enjoyed 
freedom of trade with other nations. Spain again imposed 
the old colonial system ; her colonists again rebelled (1816), 
and the government of the mother land was too weak to 
compel submission. The ten years following the final down- 
fall of Napoleon in 18 15 were a period of great unrest 
among the nations of Europe. In 1820 the Spaniards 
themselves rebelled against their restored monarch. Under 
these circumstances the Spanish colonists were able to 
maintain their independence, and by 1822 revolutionary 
governments had been established in every Spanish colony 
on the American continents. 



Ratification 
of the treaty, 
1821. 



Rebellions in 
the Spanish 
colonies, 
1808-22. 
Schouler's 
United 
States, III, 
25-36. 



356 



War and Peace 



[§259 



The Holy 

Alliance. 

Schouler's 

United 

States, III, 

277. 



Canning's 
proposition. 
Schouler's 
United 
States. III. 



Independ- 
ence of the 
Spanish 
colonies 
recognized, 
1822. 

Schouler's 
United 
States, III, 
-255- 



Russians on 
the north- 
west coast. 



The elements of revolutionary unrest in Europe had 
caused the European monarchs to form a "concert" termed 
the "Holy Alliance," to do "each other reciprocal ser- 
vices," or, in plain language, to maintain one another's 
rights and privileges. Great Britain was not a member of 
this league, but many leading Englishmen undoubtedly 
sympathized with the reactionary tendencies of its framers. 
In 1823 France, in the name of the "Holy Alliance," 
restored the "Spanish king to his throne. He eagerly be- 
sought his fellow-monarchs to complete their work by 
restoring his authority in the rebellious American colo- 
nies. The apprehension that something of the kind might 
be attempted, aroused the commercial animosities of Eng- 
lish merchants, who had established a profitable trade 
with the revolted states and had no wish to see the Spanish- 
American ports again closed to British vessels. Putting 
aside for the moment his overbearing manner. Canning, 
the British foreign minister, courteously addressed the 
American envoy at London, Mr. Richard Rush, and pro- 
posed that Great Britain and the United States should make 
a concurrent declaration against the course which the Holy 
Alliance seemed about to take (1823). 

The insurrectionary movements in the Spanish-American 
colonies had awakened the pity of the citizens of the 
United States. They sympathized with republican move- 
ments in general, they were interested in the trade of 
Spanish America, and they especially disliked the idea of 
European nations interfering in American affairs. Monroe 
and Adams, both experienced diplomatists, carefully ob- 
served the restrictions imposed on neutrals by international 
practice. By 1822, however, they thought that the time 
had come to recognize the independence of the colonies. 
This was accomplished by the appropriation of money to 
defray the expenses of diplomatic missions to "the inde- 
pendent nations on the American continent." 

259. The Monroe Doctrine, 1823. — Meantime, another 
cause for anxiety had arisen. Russia had obtained a foot- 



1823] 



The Monroe Doctrine 



357 



hold on the northwestern coast of America, and seemed 
determined to reserve the trade of that region to herself. 
In 182 1 the Czar issued a decree, or ukase, forbidding all 
foreigners to approach within one hundred miles of the 
American coasts north of the fifty-first parallel. Russian 
fur traders were constantly appearing farther south, and it 
was feared that Russia would extend her influence down 
the coast to Oregon, and even to California. The Czar 
was also the leading spirit of the Holy Alliance. Bearing 
in mind all the circumstances of the case, the situation 
might well seem desperate; the United States government 
might have been pardoned had it grasped at Canning's 
proffered friendship, but the offer was politely declined, 
largely through the wise insistence of John Quincy Adams. 
He believed that joint action with Great Britain would 
probably lead to a new partition of America between the 
principal states of Europe. If this should happen, France 
might again become an American power, Russia might gain 
Oregon and perhaps California, and Great Britain might 
acquire increased strength. Monroe finally accepted this 
view of the problem and stated the policy of the govern- 
ment in his Seventh Annual Message (December, 1823). 

Referring to the rights and interests of the United States 
and Russia on the northwest coast, the President said : " The 
occasion has been judged proper for asserting as a principle 
. . . that the American continents, by the free and inde- 
pendent condition which they have assumed and maintain, 
are henceforth not to be considered as subjects for future 
colonization by any European power." Turning to the 
question of European intervention to settle the relations 
between Spain and her former colonies, Monroe stated 
that : "... The citizens of the United States cherish 
sentiments the most friendly in favor of the liberty and 
happiness of their fellow-men on that side of the Atlantic. 
In the wars of the European powers, in matters relating to 
themselves, we have never taken any part, nor does it com- 
port with our policy to do so. It is only when our rights 



Enunciation 
of the 
Monroe 
Doctrine, 
1823. 
Winsor's 
America, 
VII, 502; 
Schouler's 
United 
States, III, 
286, 293 ; 
American 
History Leaf- 
lets, No. 4. 



358 



War and Peace 



[§259 



Authorship 
of the 
message. 



are invaded or seriously menaced that we resent injuries or 
make preparation for our defense. With the movements 
in this hemisphere we are of necessity more immediately 
connected, and by causes which must be obvious to all 
enlightened and impartial observers. The political system 
of the allied powers is essentially different in this respect 
from that of America. This difference proceeds from that 
which exists in their respective governments. And to the 
defense of our own, which has been achieved by the loss of 
so much blood and treasure, and matured by the wisdom of 
their most enlightened citizens, and under which we have 
enjoyed unexampled felicity, this whole nation is devoted. 
We owe it, therefore, to candor, and to the amicable rela- 
tions existing between the United States and those powers, 
to declare that we should consider any attempt on their 
part to extend their system to any portion of this hemi- 
sphere as dangerous to our peace and safety. With the 
existing colonies or dependencies of any European power 
we have not interfered, and shall not interfere. But with 
the governments who have declared their independence, 
and maintained it, and whose independence we have, on 
great consideration and on just principles, acknowledged, 
we could not view any interposition for the purpose of 
oppressing them, or controlling in any other manner their 
destiny, by any European power, in any other light than 
as the manifestation of an unfriendly disposition toward the 
United States." 

These memorable sentences were written by John Quincy 
Adams, but the responsibility for the announcement of the 
policy was Monroe's, and the message was rightly coupled 
with his name. In truth, the principles set forth in this 
famous document originated neither with Adams nor with 
Monroe; their genesis may be traced back to Washington's 
Neutrality Proclamation and to Jefferson's famous phrase 
of " entangling alliances with none " (p. 311). The " Mon- 
roe Doctrine " was the established policy of the United 
States long before 1823, and has been cherished and ex- 



1823] The Monroe Doctrine 359 

tended by later statesmen. It would be better now to drop 
the name of Monroe altogether and to call this policy, which 
is usually associated with his name, the American Policy. 
As circumstances change, the great principles underlying 
it have been, and must be, applied to new conditions; but 
the use of Monroe's name seems to confine them to those 
problems 'only which confronted ^ ^ fl 1 

the government in 1823. J), «i ' c5hcLCUVw* 

Although Canning's suggestion of concurrent action was 
not received with favor by the United States, the British 
authorities acted in harmony with the administration at 
Washington. Mr. Canning caused the French government 
to be informed that the use of force by the Holy Alliance 
would at once lead to Britain's recognition of the inde- 
pendence of the Spanish colonies in America. The projects 
of the Holy Alliance as to the New World fell dead. At 
nearly the same time satisfactory arrangements were made 
as to the limits of Russia's dominion on the northwestern 
coast. 

260, The Russian Treaty of 1824. — This treaty was ne- Treaty with 
gotiated during Monroe's administration. It is called the sdiTui'er's'^''' 
Treaty of 1824, although it was not ratified until January United 

of the next year (1825). It declared the fisheries and ^^^^^j^. 
navigation of the Pacific open to both parties and fixed the 
parallel of 54° 40' as the dividing line between the "spheres 
of influence" of the two contracting parties, the Americans 
to make no settlements north of that line nor the Russians 
south of it. 

With the arrangement of this matter, the old foreign 
policy of the United States may be said to have terminated. 
Questions of internal policy had already assumed the fore- 
most position, and the struggles of political parties turned 
more and more on the contest over the extension of the 
slave system to new territory, and to the perpetuation of 
the protective tariff. 

261. Extension of Slave Territory. — The Ordinance of 
1787, prohibiting slavery north of the Ohio River (p. 225), 



111,330. 



360 



War and Peace 



[§261 



Slave and 

free territory, 

1820. 

Schouler's 

United 

States, III, 

134-146, 



Proposal to 
admit 
Missouri as 
a slave state. 
Johnston's 
Orations, II, 



Proposals to 

restrict slave 

extension. 

Schouler's 

United 

States, 

147-155; 
MacDonald's 
Documents, 
Nos. 35-41. 



and the acts of Congress admitting free states north of that 
river and slave states south of it (p. 306), had settled the 
question of free and slave soil east of the Mississippi by 
making the Ohio from Pennsylvania to the Mississippi the 
dividing line. The question of slavery west of that great 
stream had not been determined. Was the vast region 
between the Mississippi and the Rocky Mountains to be 
devoted to freedom or to bondage, or to be divided between 
them, as the original territory of the United States had 
been? 

In 1812 Congress had admitted the slave state of Louisi- 
ana to the Union. For six years nothing more was heard 
of the question, until March, 1818, when Missouri applied 
to Congress for admission to the Union; but no action was 
taken at that session. In the following December (18 18) 
a bill was introduced organizing the southern portion of the 
old Missouri Territory as a new territory under the name 
of Arkansas. • The boundary line between the proposed 
state and territory was given in the bill as the parallel of 
36° 30' north latitude; this would be substantially a pro- 
longation of the Ohio River line. In February, 18 19, the 
consideration of these bills began in earnest, and at once 
the question of the extension of slave territory became of 
the greatest importance. James W. Tallmadge, a represen- 
tative from New York, moved to amend the Missouri bill 
to the effect "that the further introduction of slavery or 
involuntary servitude be prohibited and that all children 
of slaves born within the said state after the admission 
thereof into the Union shall be free." The proposed state 
was north of the prolongation of the Ohio dividing line, 
and directly west of the free state of Illinois; it seemed to 
the Northerners only right that it should be free soil, and 
they voted for Tallmadge's amendment. It was carried, 
the bill was passed by the House, and was sent up to the 
Senate. The Arkansas bill was then taken up, and John 
W. Taylor, another representative from New York, moved 
the substance of Tallmadge's proposition as an amendment 



l820] 



The Missouri Compromises 



361 



to that bill; but the motion was defeated by the casting 
vote of Henry Clay, who was once more Speaker of the 
House of Representatives. McLane of Delaware then pro- 
posed that a line should be fixed west of the Mississippi 
"north of which slavery should not. be tolerated," and 
Taylor, acting on this suggestion, moved that slavery should 
be prohibited north of 36° 30' north latitude; but he sub- 
sequently withdrew his amendment, and the Arkansas bill 
passed in its original form. The Senate accepted the 
Arkansas bill, refused the Tallmadge amendment to the 
Missouri bill, and Congress adjourned without coming to 
a decision. 

This question of the expansion of slave territory, which 
had suddenly come before Congress, aroused an amount 
of interest and excitement such as no other measure 
had awakened 
for years. John 
Adams, in his re- 
tired home at far- 
off Quincy, Mas- 
sachusetts, wrote 
that he hoped no 
harm would come 
of it; but Jeffer- 
son, at his man- 
sion of Monti- 
cello, Virginia, nearer the scene of conflict, was not at all 
hopeful, and declared that during the Revolutionary War 
there had not been such a serious division of opinion. 

262. The Missouri Compromises, 1820, 1821. — A new 
Congress assembled in December, 18 19, and the slavery 
question at once became the most important matter of the 
session. Meantime, the Province of Maine had asked to 
be admitted to the Union with the consent of Massachu- 
setts, with which Maine had been united since 1676 (p. 
105), The House of Representatives promptly passed a 
bill for its admission; but when the measure came before 




Ashland. Clay's residence 



Seriousness 
of the crisis, 



The 

Compromise 
of 1820. 
Schouler's 
United 
States, III, 

155-165 : 

Rhodes's 
United 
States, 
I, 30-41. 



362 



IVar and Peace 



[§262 



Discussion 

in the 

cabinet. 

Schouler's 

United 

States, III, 

166-171. 



More 

compromise, 

1821. 

Schouler's 

United 

States, 

178-186. 



the Senate, a clause providing for the admission of Mis- 
souri was tacked to it by way of amendment (January, 
1820). In the course of the discussion, the Senate refused 
to adopt an amendment prohibiting slavery in Missouri, 
but accepted one proposed by Jesse B. Thomas of Illinois, 
in the following language: "That in all that territory ceded 
by France to the United States under the name of Louisi- 
ana, which lies north of thirty-six degrees, thirty minutes 
north latitude, not included within the limits of the state 
contemplated by this act, slavery . , . shall be and is hereby 
forever prohibited." The bill in this form finally passed 
the Senate by the votes of the senators from the Southern 
states and Illinois. The proposal in plain language was to 
balance the admission of the free state of Maine by the 
admission of the slave state of Missouri, and to forbid 
slavery in the remainder of the Louisiana Purchase north 
of Arkansas. The form in which the compromise was 
effected aroused a good deal of friction between the two 
houses. Finally, it was passed and received the President's 
approval. 

In the cabinet there was an interesting discussion as to 
the constitutional power of Congress to prescribe condi- 
tions under which states might be admitted into the Union. 
All the members of the cabinet concurred in the opinion 
that Congress had power under the Constitution to prohibit 
slavery in the territories. It should be noted that the 
Southern members agreed in this view, — Wirt of Virginia, 
Crawford of Georgia, and John C. Calhoun of South Caro- 
lina. In point of fact, there were few persons then in 
political life who would have denied that Congress pos- 
sessed full power to impose conditions on the admission 
of new states. 

The bill, as passed, admitted Maine to the Union and 
authorized Missouri to form a constitution and apply to 
Congress for admission. In 1821 the constitution of 
Missouri came before Congress for formal approval. It 
was found to contain a clause forbidding the entrance of 



£824] The Tariff of 1824 363 

tree blacks into the state. Free blacks were then and for 
a long time thereafter regarded as citizens of the United 
States, and the federal Constitution guaranteed certain 
rights to all citizens. This clause in the Missouri con- 
stitution therefore raised a very serious question. Many 
Northerners would have gladly seized this opportunity to 
overturn the compromise of 1820. In the end, however, 
under the influence of Henry Clay, the matter was again 
compromised. Missouri was admitted under the proposed 
constitution, with the proviso that no interpretation should 
ever be placed on the clause in question which should in 
any way diminish the rights of citizens of the United States, 
— a proviso which meant absolutely nothing. The Mis- 
souri Compromise postponed the conflict over the extension 
of slavery for a whole generation. It may be considered 
to have been justifiable, as it gave the free North time to 
develop its strength. On the other hand, it intensified 
the division into sections, which was already so apparent, 
and when the time came for the compromise to be of real 
value to the cause of freedom, it was disregarded and pro- 
nounced unconstitutional (pp. 434, 448). 

263. The Tariff of 1824. — The eight years which had Tariff of 
elapsed since the passage of the Tariff Act of 18 16, of ^^^4. 
which Calhoun was one of the chief supporters, had wit- unHed 
nessed a great change in the attitude of the several sections states, iii, 
of the country on the question of protection. The South- 295-298. 
erners, who had then not opposed the policy, were now its 
declared enemies. Although they had not suffered much 
actual damage from it, the tariff was clearly of no benefit 
to them, and seemed, on the other hand, to be of great bene- 
fit to two classes, — the agriculturists of the West and the 
manufacturers of the North. The Westerners had favored The 
the Tariff Act of 1816; they now clamored loudly for the argument 
extension of the principle. They argued that the building ,^j,jff 
up of thriving manufacturing communities in the East would 
give them markets near at hand for their surplus products, 
and the large revenues which were likelv to result from 



3^4 



War and Peace 



[§264 



Arguments 
for and 
against pro- 
tection, 1824. 
Taussig's 
State Papers, 
252-385- 



The " Era 
of Good 
Feeling," 
1821-25. 
Schouler's 
United 
States, III, 
259-270. 



increased duties would enable the government to construct 
new avenues of communication across the Alleghanies, and 
thus render the new markets more accessible. In the 
North, also, there was now much less opposition to a high 
tariff than there had been earlier. The iron masters of 
Pennsylvania were eager for more protection, and the tariff 
had enabled the New England manufacturers to pass suc- 
cessfully through a commercial crisis in 18 18-19 and had 
been an incentive to a large increase in the manufacturing 
industries of that section. The most remarkable develop- 
ment in this direction was the founding of the town of 
Lowell, where there was an important water power supplied 
by the Merrimac and Concord rivers. There a large mill 
for spinning and weaving had been erected and opened for 
business in 1823. 

The new tariff was pressed forward on the eve of a presi- 
dential election, when no candidate wished to offend those 
interested in the development of protection. Webster, who 
still represented the commercial as opposed to the manu- 
facturing interests of New England, argued against it in a 
speech which contains one of the best expositions of free- 
trade principles anywhere to be found. The votes of the 
Western, Middle, and Eastern states were too numerous for 
those of the South, and the bill passed. It increased the 
duties on iron, wool, hemp, and,, to a less degree, on woolen 
and cotton goods. The general average of duties on pro- 
tected goods, which had been twenty-five per cent in 18 1 6, 
was now increased to thirty-seven per cent. 

264. The Election of J. Q. Adams, 1824, 1825. — Mon- 
roe's second administration (1821-25) has often been called 
the "Era of Good Feeling," and so it was in the country 
as a whole. The people, busied in preparing for the great 
industrial expansion of Jackson's time, forgot political 
animosities and bent all their energies to building the 
material foundations of future successes. Among the poli- 
ticians, however, it was far from being an "era of good 
feeling"; on the contrary, it was a period of political 



1824] 



The Election of J. Q. Adams 



365 



intrigue and ill feeling among the leacfing men seldom 
equaled in the nation's history. It was a time when 
the forces which were to control the destiny of the country 
were taking form, although their shapes were not yet 
sufficiently molded to attract the allegiance or animosity 
of the politicians to such an extent as to make a new divi- 
sion of political parties. Nevertheless, the candidates for 
the succession to 
Monroe represented, 
in a manner, these 
new forces. 

Of Monroe's cabi- 
net three men aspired 
to succeed their 
chief. The first to 
come forward was 
John C. Calhoun of 
South Carolina, Sec- 
retary of War, here- 
tofore identified with 
nationalizing doc- 
trines, but now be- 
ginning to change 
his mind; the pros- 
pect of an undis- 
puted election to 
the peaceful seclu- 
sion of the vice-pres- 
idency determined 

him to withdraw from the struggle for the first place. William 
H. Crawford of Georgia, Secretary of the Treasury, began his 
preparations to secure the nomination as far back as 1820, 
by procuring the passage of an act limiting the tenure of 
civil ofiicers to four years. It was stated that the purpose 
of this law was to secure a better accountability on the part 
of those who handled public moneys; in reality, it was 
devised to enable Crawford to thrust out of the treasury 




John Quincy Adams 



366 



War and Peace 



[§264 



without arousing public attention all officials who were not 
favorable to his presidential aspirations. John Quincy 
Adams of Massachusetts, Secretary of State, also aspired to 
the presidency. In addition, Henry Clay, still Speaker of 
the House, became a candidate, and the friends of General 
Jackson, now senator from Tennessee, put him forward as 
the representative of the people, especially those of the 
West. Nominating conventions were not then in fashion 

for federal offices, 



and besides there 
were no well-de- 
fined political 
parties behind the 
several candi- 
dates. Crawford 
secured the "ma- 
chine " nomina- 
tion of a congres- 
sional caucus, 
which, however, 
was attended by 
only a small por- 
tion of the Re- 
publican members 
of Congress. The 
other candidates 
were put forward 
by state legisla- 
tures : Adams by those of New England ; Clay by those of 
five states, including his own state of Kentucky; Jackson by 
those of Tennessee and Pennsylvania. Adams and Clay 
represented the nationalizing tendencies of the Republican 
party in the North and West; Crawford stood for the reac- 
tionary principles which were then beginning to influence 
the South; and Jackson represented the new democracy, 
which was steadily acquiring strength in the West and even 
in the East. The future undoubtedly was with him and his 




Election of 1824 




Henry Clay in 1821- After a painting b> Charles King 



368 



War and Peace 



[§265 



The election 
of 1824. 
Stanwood's 
Elections, 

79-95 ; 
Schouler's 
United 
States, III, 
304-329. 



Cry of 
corruption 
and bargain. 



J. Q. Adams. 
Schouler's 
United 
States, III, 

336-343. 
397-409. 



friends, but as yet the strength which lay behind him was 
unorganized. As it was, he received ninety-nine electoral 
votes — more than any other candidate ; Adams received 
eighty-four votes, Crawford forty-one, and Clay thirty- 
seven. No candidate had obtained a majority, and the 
election went to the House, voting by states, and confined 
in its choice to the three highest on the list (p. 319). 
Clay was therefore out of the contest. His views and 
those of his supporters coincided more nearly with those 
of Adams than with those of either Jackson or Crawford. 
He advised his followers to vote for Adams, and the latter 
was elected. 

The Constitution had expressly given the House the right 
to choose from t'he three highest on the list. Nevertheless, 
the adherents of Jackson declared that the representatives 
had thwarted the will of the people. In a few days it 
became known that Adams had offered Clay the position 
of Secretary of State, which the latter had accepted, most 
unwisely, as events were to show. The opponents of Adams 
and Clay at once raised the cry that a bargain had been 
made between them. Jackson, who seldom calculated his 
words, and who had probably never forgiven Clay for his 
attempt to bring him to account for his raid of 18 18 (p. 
353), announced that Clay was "the Judas of the West"; 
and John Randolph of Roanoke, the bitter opponent of the 
nationalizing tendencies of Adams and Clay, asserted in his 
virulent way that it was "a combination between the Puri- 
tan and the blackleg." There is probably not an atom of 
truth in the charge of a bargain between the new President 
and his Secretary of State; the accusation was repeated, 
however, until even its inventors must have believed in it, 
and it did very great harm to both Adams and Clay. 

265. J. Q. Adams's Administration, 1825-29. — ^^ Adams 
was in every way fitted for his new office. Absolutely fear- 
less, honest, and upright, with a good mind and well trained 
to the administration of affairs, he would no doubt have 
succeeded admirably had he become President eight, or 



1825] Foreign Relations 369 

even four, -years earlier. He represented the sympathies 
and aspirations of the generation which was now fast losing 
its hold on the confidence of the people. With the forces 
that were to direct the future destinies of the country, he 
had little in common. His opponents reiterated the 
charges of "corruption and bargain"; they set on foot 
constant and causeless inquiries into the conduct of public 
officials; they discovered little wrongdoing, but the cease- 
less round of charges kept alive the suspicions that many 
persons undoubtedly felt as to Adams's honesty and good 
faith. 

On his part, Adams made many mistakes. He proposed 
a vast system of public improvements which alienated the 
support of the Southerners; he set his name to the worst 
tariff bill that the country has ever had; and he failed to 
carry on successfully the foreign relations of the nation. 

266. Foreign Relations, 1825-29. — The most unfortunate Relations 
event in the foreign relations of these years was the closing ^'^^ Gx^-^\ 

,. . . Britain. 

of the British West India ports to American commerce. 
This was not due to any fault of Adams, but to untimely 
legislation by Congress. The administration did what it 
could to settle the matter amicably, but the British govern- 
ment refused to negotiate on the subject at all. In one 
respect, Adams and Clay were fortunate : they concluded 
many commercial treaties; but their good effect was more 
than offset by the loss of the British West India trade. 

The administration took a warm interest in a Congress The Panama 
of all the American Republics, which met at Panama, in Congress 

-n 1- Schoulers 

response to an invitation issued by General Simon Bolivar, irnUed 
the South American patriot. Adams was anxious to extend States, III, 
the influence of the United States over the other American 358-365- 
states; he also desired to secure a general recognition of 
the principles set forth in the Monroe Doctrine. Acting 
on these ideas, he at once accepted Bolivar's invitation. 
When Congress met, however, the opposition seized on 
this as a favorable point of attack. Among the American 
states invited to be present at the Congress was the negro 



370 



War and Peace 



[§267 



Georgia, 
the Indians, 
and the 
federal 
government. 
Schouler's 
United 
States, III, 
370-381. 



republic of Hayti. The slave owners dreaded the example 
of the black republic on their slaves; they disliked the idea 
of sitting at a table on equal terms with the free negroes of 
Hayti ; and they were alarmed lest the Panama Congress 
should adopt resolutions hostile to slavery. After consider- 
able delay, Congress voted the funds necessary to enable 
the United States delegates to go to Panama. They did 
not arrive there until after the Congress had adjourned, 
and the whole affair ended in a ridiculous failure. 

267. Adams and Georgia, 1825-27. — When Georgia had 
ceded her claims to Western lands to the United States 
(1802), the state and the federal governments had agreed that 
the latter should in some way remove the Indians from the 
lands remaining to Georgia. It was found very difficult 
to accomplish this. Georgia became impatient and pro- 
ceeded to take possession of a portion of the lands, in virtue 
of a treaty which probably had no force. The government 
interfered to protect the Indians from unjust spoliation, 
and brought upon itself the anger of Governor Troup of 
Georgia, and of the legislative authorities of that state. 
The governor, echoing the Kentucky and Hartford Conven- 
tion resolutions, stated that "between states equally inde- 
pendent . . . between sovereigns the weaker is equally 
qualified to pass upon its rights " as the stronger. A com- 
mittee of the legislature went further, and reported that the 
time was approaching when the Southern states would be 
obliged to confederate. Adams, on his part, informed 
Congress that he intended " to enforce the laws, and fulfill 
the duties of the nation by all the force committed for that 
purpose to his charge." In Congress, however, the oppo- 
nents of Adams and Clay were in the majority; they grasped 
the opportunity to humiliate the administration, and de- 
clined to support him. Adams was obliged to draw back, 
though at great loss to the national prestige. Georgia had 
successfully defied a weak administration; it remained to 
be seen whether South Carolina would be able to withstand 
a strong one (p. 395). 



1828] The Tariff of Abominations syi 

268. TheTariff of Abominations, 1828. — "The Tariff of The 
1828," says Professor Taussig, "was a political job." No Po''"cians 

,..,-. , , ... ^ , , and the 

political faction dared to oppose it m view of the approach- tariff, 
ing election. The Southerners were now very unfriendly Schouier's 
to its protective policy, but, owing to the necessity of pro- ^'^f'^^rTj 
curing the votes of the Jackson men in the protective North 420-426. 
and West, they were obliged to find some expedient by 
which, while seeming to favor a high protective tariff, they 
might secure its defeat. According to Calhoun, the scheme 
adopted was the invention of Martin Van Buren, senator 
from New York, and chief of a political clique in that 
state known as the Albany Junto. Van Buren had opposed 
Jackson in 1824, but had since warmly attached himself 
to his cause and had organized his faction. The plan 
of these men was to promote the passage of a bill which 
should contain such high duties on raw materials — most 
of them produced in the West — that the representatives of 
the manufacturing states in the East would not vote for it. 
It was expected that the latter would join with the Southern 
representatives at the last moment, and by their votes 
insure its defeat. The scheme was a " curious commentary, " • 
to quote again from Professor Taussig, "on the politicians 
who were now coming into power." In the beginning, 
everything worked happily for the conspirators. A com- 
mittee of the House of Representatives, composed mainly 
of Jackson men, reported a bill containing high duties on 
manufactured goods, which the manufacturers desired, and 
high duties on raw materials, which the Westerners wanted. 
The latter duties completely destroyed the effects of the 
former, so far as the manufacturers were concerned. When 
the bill came before the House, the Jackson men refused 
to allow amendments, except one, which slightly bettered 
the case of the manufacturers of coarse woolens. The same 
course was pursued by the Jackson men in the Senate. 
The bill, abominations and all, was better for the manu- 
facturers than no bill. They doubtless expected to be able 
to secure the removal of some of the things which bore 



372 



War and Peace 



[§269 



The " abom- 
inations." 



Calhoun's 
Exposition. 
See on this 
general sub- 
ject, Cal- 
houn's letter 
to Hamilton, 
in Stedman 
and Hutch- 
inson, IV, 
478. 



most harshly upon them, — an expectation which proved to 
be well founded. The Adams men, therefore, much to the 
dismay of the plotters, voted for the bill, the President signed 
it, and it became law. A few illustrations will serve to show 
the character of the measure : (i) the duty on hemp, which 
was not produced in the country in any quantity, but was 
much used in Northern shipyards, was raised from thirty- 
five to sixty dollars per ton and (2) the duty on coarse wool, 
used in the manufacture of carpets and cheap woolen goods, 
was more than doubled, but no corresponding increase was 
made in the duty which was levied on the manufactured 
article. 

269. Calhoun's Exposition, 1828. — The Southerners 
were greatly angered by the passage of this measure, 
although it is impossible to say how much it injured them, 
if it injured them at all. There was a sense of grievance, 
at all events, and the leaders used it to promote the open 
declaration of states'-rights doctrines. Five Southern legis- 
latures protested against the act, and the legislature of South 
Carolina set forth its ideas in an Exposition ajid Protest, 
drawn up by Calhoun (December, 1828). In this cele- 
brated document Calhoun, reverting to the precedents of 
1799 and 1815 (pp. 286, 343), argued that "the existence 
of the right of judging of their powers, clearly established 
from the sovereignty of the states, as clearly implies a veto 
or control on the action of the general government. . . . 
There exists a case [the Tariff of 1828] which would justify 
the interposition of this state, in order to compel the general 
government to abandon an unconstitutional power, or to 
appeal to this high authority [the states] to confer it by 
express grant." He suggested that a convention of the 
state of South Carolina should be held, to decide in what 
manner the Tariff Act " ought to be declared null and void 
within the limits of the state." So threatening, indeed, 
was the outlook at the time, that Webster wrote, " I became 
thoroughly convinced that the plan of a Southern confeder- 
acy had been received with favor by a great many of the 



1.828] 



The Election of 1828 



Z7Z 



political men of the South." Nothing more was done at 
the moment, possibly because the Southerners expected to 
find in the newly elected President a champion of their 
cause. 

270. Election of 1828. — The presidential campaign 
which ended in the election of Jackson was fought with a 
bitterness and intemperance without a parallel in the earlier 

campaigns, except 

perhaps in that of 
1800. Jackson was 
supported by men of 
all shades of opinion, 
from free-traders to 
high - protectionists, 
from states'-rights men 
to nationalists. Most of 
them would have been 
entirely unable to give 
any reason for their 
position, except a de- 
sire for change and a 
feeling that, with 
Jackson's election, 
there would be an 
end to the traditions 
which up to that time 
had guided the govern- 
ment, — an expectation 
justified by the event. 

Many writers regard Jackson's election as the triumph 
of the people in opposition to the moneyed classes. Others 
maintain that it showed "the new West and the frontier 
had taken the whip hand in political management." Still 
other students see in it the victory of misrepresentation, 
slander, appeals to the passions, and political intrigue, and 
contend that a similar success could not be attained now, 
in the days of the rapid spread of intelligence. Certainly 




Election of 1828 



Campaign 

of 1828. 

Schouler's 

United 

States, III, 

409-420, 

426-439; 

Stanwood's 

Elections, 

96-101. 



in which they were abundantly 



Meaning of 

Jackson's 

election. 



374 



War and Peace 



[§ 270 



The electoral 
vote. 



Schouler's 
United 
States, IV, 
185. 



it was well understood that Jackson was a man "who stood 
by his friends "j those who worked for him were reasonably 
sure of reward. Adams, on the other hand, had steadily 
refused to use the public patronage to further his political 
fortunes; his re-election would do little to repay those 
who worked for him. Bearing all these things in mind, it 
is remarkable that Adams received as many votes in 1828 
as he had obtained in 1824. All the rest were given to 
Jackson, who received one hundred and seventy-eight elec- 
toral votes to eighty-three for Adams. The practice of 
choosing presidential electors by popular vote had gradu- 
ally been adopted in all the states, save Delaware and South 
Carolina. It is possible, therefore, to estimate the popular 
vote with some approach to accuracy. Jackson's majority, 
taking the states as a whole, was about one hundred and 
forty thousand. It is true, nevertheless, and worthy of 
note, that the change of a few thousand votes in Pennsyl- 
vania and New York would have given the electoral votes 
of those states and the election to Adams. Calhoun was 
re-elected Vice-President by a somewhat smaller majority 
than that given to Jackson. 

The victory, such as it was, was undoubtedly a triumph 
of the new forces of unrest in political and social life. 
Sooner or later it was certain to come, and its coming at 
this time was fortunate. Adams was soon elected to the 
House of Representatives, where he gained a reputation as 
honorable as it has been unique, and one which he never 
could have won in administration. In Adams's place as 
chief magistrate, there appeared one of the most remarkable 
men America has produced, and one who was admirably 
fitted to ride the storm and direct the forces of the new 
democracy. The personal character, honesty, and good 
intentions of Andrew Jackson are unquestionable, however 
wrongful many of his acts may have been, and however 
mean and base were the motives of many politicians who 
fawned upon him and won office and money from his 
misplaced confidence. 



Questions and Topics 375 

SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS AND TOPICS 
§§ 240-247, 248, 269. The War of 181 2 

a. Compare the mode of recruiting soldiers, and the manner of 
raising money, in the War of 1812 and the Civil War. 

b. What do you think of the suggestion of Mr. Adams (§ 244) as 
applied to possible future wars of the United States? 

c. Bring to class a brief digest of the history of Europe 1812-23. 
Why was the Czar anxious for peace between the United States and 
Great Britain? 

d. Describe effects of the war upon national feeling, political parties, 
industrial history of the United States ; upon sentiments of foreign 
nations towards us. Do you think the description, "Second War of 
Independence," well chosen? 

e. Show that the qualities which made Madison great as a states- 
man unfitted him for a war president. Look up life and influence of 
Mrs. Madison. 

§§ 247, 269. The Hartford Convention 

a. Compare the resolutions adopted by the Hartford Convention 
with the Kentucky and Virginia resolutions, with the doctrines set 
forth in Calhoun's ExposiHott, and with the South Carolina resolutions 
of 1832. 

§§ 249-254. Nationalization 

a. Show how the decisions of the Supreme Court, noted in § 254, 
greatly diminished the power of the states and increased that of the 
federal government. 

b. Upon what grounds did Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe believe 
internal improvements to be beyond the powers of the federal 
government? What is the view of the leading political parties 
to-day? 

§§ 255-260. Foreign Affairs 

a. Trace the history of the Monroe Doctrine to 1823. In your 
opinion did Cleveland's Venezuela message enunciate any new 
principle? 

b. Place as heading in note-book, "Oregon," and enter under it 
all fitting matter as you proceed. What matter in these sections must 
you enter under it, and why? Precisely what did the word "Oregon" 
mean in 1818? in 1825? 

c. Represent in colors upon an Outline Map all the territorial 
changes noted in this chapter. 



3/6 War and Peace 



§§ 261-262. The Missouri Compromises 

a. Represent upon an Outline Map the effect of the several pro- 
posals noted in these sections. 

b. State carefully the procedure in regard to the admission of Maine 
and of Missouri. 



§§ 263, 265-268. Administration of J. Q. Adams 

a. Bring to class a brief digest of the career of J. Q. Adams. 

b. In what way did the tariff injure the South? in what way did it 
benefit the North and the West? 

c. Which party had right and justice on its side in the affair men- 
tioned in § 267 ? 

§§ 264, 270. Elections of 1824 and 1828 

a. Examine the maps on pp. 366 and 373, and determine how far 
the facts disclosed justify the statement that in 1828 "the New West 
and the frontier had taken the whip hand in political management." 

b. How has it happened that the House has substantially lost the 
freedom of choice contemplated in the Constitution ? 

General Questions 

a. The "Great Triumvirate" — Webster, Clay, and Calhoun: bring 
to class a digest of their careers. 

b. The " Era of Good Feeling " : why so called ? Contrast it with 
the preceding period, 1 789-1812. 

c. What matter in this chapter must be entered in your note-book 
under " Particularism," and what under " Nationalism " ? 

Topics for Investigation by Individual Students 

a. Summarize Monroe's message of 1823 (357, last reference). 

b. Summarize Clay's argument for protection, 1824 (364, first 
reference). 

c. Summarize Webster's argument against protection in 1824 (364, 
first reference). 

d. Tabulate the election returns of 1824 by states (368, first refer- 
ence of first group). 

e. Tabulate the election returns of 1828 (373, last reference of first 
group). 



CHAPTER X 

THE NATIONAL DEMOCRACY, 1829-1844 

Books for Consultation 

General Readings. — Johnston's American Politics, 109-148; 
Wilson's Division and Reunion, 22-1 46; Schouler's United States, 
III, 507-529, IV, 1-31. 

Special Accounts. — W. G. Brown's Andrew Jackson ; Von 
Hoist's Calhoun (S. S.) ; Lodge's Webster (S. S.); Schurz's Clay 
(S. S.); Morse's _/. Q. Adams (S. S.); Schouler's United States; 
*Greeley's American Conjiict ; Clarke's Anti-Slavery Days; Morse's 
Lincoln (S. S.) ; Goodell's Slavery ; Taussig's Tariff History ; Lar- 
ned's History for Ready Reference ; Wilson's Presidents. Larger 
biographies of the leading statesmen. Guide, § 25. 

Sources. — American History Leaflets; Old South Leaflets; Ben- 
ton's Abridgment and Thirty Years' View; J. Q. Adams's Diary; 
Williams's Statesman'' s Manual; Johnston's American Orations; 
Stedman and Hutchinson, A?nerican Literature. Writings of the 
leading statesmen. Guide, §§ 32, 33; MacDonald's Dociiments. 

Maps. — Mac Coun's Historical Geography; Hart's Epoch Maps, 
Nos. 7, 8, II. 

Bibliography. — Channing and Hart, Guide to American History, 
§§ 56 a, 56 b (General Readings), §§ 180-189 (Topics and References). 

Illustrative Material. — *Cooley's Michigan (A. C); *Scharf's 
Maryland (A. C); *Von Hoist's Constitutional History; Quincy's 
Figures of the Past; Cooper's Notions of the Americans; Kemble's 
Recollections of a Girlhood; McCuWoch's A/en and A/easttres ; Parton's 
Jackson ; Trollope's Manners of the Americans ; Wise's Seveti Decades ; 
*GoMg&'s Money and Banking; Olmsted's Cotton Kingdom; Garrisons' 
Life of Garrison ; Roosevelt's Winning of the West ; Hale's ^/t^r/w <?/ 
Lnventions ; Hubert's Inventors; Hapgood's Z?a;nV/ Webster. 

Seba Smith's Life and Letters of Major Jack Dovming ; Lucy Lar- 
com's A New England Girlhood ; Longstreet's Georgia Scenes ; Hil- 
dreth's- The Slave ; Hawthorne's Blithedale Romance. 

THE NATIONAL DEMOCRACY, 1829-1844 

271. Significance of Jackson's Election. —The election Qj^ack^n'! 
of Andrew Jackson to the chief magistracy marked the election. 

377 



37^ 



The National Democracy 



C§272 



Andrew 
Jackson. 
Schouler's 
United 
States, IV, 

112, 265. 



Popular 
sovereignty. 



Jackson's 
policy. 



close of the second great epoch in the history of the United 
States. He was in some respects a typical man of the 
people. Born in the Carolina backwoods, he passed his 
boyhood amid the alarms and hostile encounters of the 
Revolutionary War. He then made his way over the moun- 
tains to the newer Carolina, which rapidly developed and 
was admitted to the Union as the state of Tennessee in 1 796. 
Picking up a itvf scraps of legal knowledge, he became a 
lawyer ; but it was as a military man that he made his mark. 
Without fear, with boundless energy, and with a faith in his 
own judgment and good intentions scarcely ever surpassed, 
Jackson proved himself to be a born leader of men in time 
of stress. In the Indian wars of that period, and in the 
War of 181 2, he led his men to victory. In every way 
Jackson was a fitting representative of frontier life, which 
now for the first time took a leading position in national 
affairs in combination with Eastern political leaders who 
saw no other way to the possession of power. 

272. Theory of Popular Sovereignty. — The Jacksonian 
theory of pohtical existence, hke the Jeffersonian doctrine, 
rested on the rights of the individual, but there the resem- 
blance ceased. Jefferson had aimed at the formation of 
local democracies, the state being the unit of political 
action ; Jackson and those behind him believed in the 
existence and in the building up of a national democracy. 
He was the administrator of a group of strong political 
leaders, — Benton of Missouri, Van Buren of New York, 
Taney of Maryland, and Edward Livingston of Louisiana, 
but of the New York Livingston stock. They believed with 
Jackson, or, more likely, Jackson believed with them, that 
the Constitution should be strictly construed, at least as far 
as all ordinary functions of the government were concerned. 
" The reign of Andrew Jackson," as the eight years of his 
presidency has been picturesquely termed, was a period of 
strictly constitutional despotism. Internal improvements 
were put ruthlessly to one side, the United States Bank was 
ruined, and protection was lessened as much as could possi- 



-■ J^w 




a^ 



^>^^X,X-^ 



dc^^^^y^^^^'^^'^''^^ 



After a painting by Longfacre 



iT» 



380 The National Democracy [§ 273 

bly be done without losing the support of the West and 
North. Furthermore, Jackson and his friends beheved that 
the people of the United States should govern. Acting on 
this idea, they maintained that in electing Adams in 1825, 
the House of Representatives had refused to give the presi- 
dency to the man who was " entitled " to it by the voices 
of a majority of the voters. But the " sovereignty of the 
people," which was called in on that occasion and on all 
occasions of strain, as in the contest with the bank, was not 
in the Constitution. That instrument, on the contrary, had 
provided the means for thwarting the will of the people by 
the interposition of the electoral college in presidential 
elections and by the check exercised by the Senate in 
legislative business. It was, however, a most important 
day for the United States and for the American people when 
the forces of democracy adopted the idea of the sovereignty 
of the people of the United States. This new idea was to 
bear immediate fruit in Jackson's own time, in a manner 
that many of those who had voted for him scarcely dreamed 
of at the moment of his election. It will be well to examine 
the condition of the country at such an epoch- marking 
period. 
Numbers, 273. Population and Area in 1830. — The population of 

1830. ^.j^g United States was now slightly under thirteen millions, 

in comparison with five and one half millions in 1800. Of 
this increase of over seven and one quarter millions, not 
more than four hundred and fifty thousand were immigrants. 
It was in the first thirty years of the century that the 
institutions of the country became sohdified on a demo- 
cratic basis, and this work was accomplished by the original 
population of the country and their children. English 
institutions remained the dominant institutions, and the 
English language remained the dominant language. 
Area, 1830. The area of the United States had more than doubled in 

the same time ; in 1830 it was over two million square 
miles, in comparison with less than eight hundred and fifty 
thousand square miles in 1800. Meantime the settled area 



l83o] 



Population and Area 



381 




Backwoodsman, 1829 



had increased in about the same proportion: in 1830 it 
was six hundred and thirty thousand square miles, as against 
three hundred and five thousand square miles in 1800. 
This great increase in the area of settlement had been due, 



382 



The National Democracy 



[§274 



Growth of 
the West. 



The cities. 



for the most part, to colonization of lands west of the 
Alleghanies. Of the eight states admitted to the Union 
since 1800, only one (Maine) was situated on the Atlantic 
slope; the others (Ohio, 1803; Louisiana, 181 2; Indiana, 
1816; Mississippi, 1817; Illinois, "1818 ; Alabama, 1819; 
Missouri, 182 1) were all west of the Alleghanies. This 
rapid growth of the West had been partly offset by a large 
increase in the population of the seaboard states, but the 
center of population had moved westward one hundred and 
twenty-five miles, to the western boundary of Maryland; in 
1800 it had been only eighteen miles west of Baltimore. 

The nation as a whole was still a rural people, as only 
about seven per cent of the population was collected into 
cities and towns of over eight thousand inhabitants (for 
1800, see p. 299). Nevertheless, owing to the growing 
importance of manufacturing and commercial pursuits in 
the northeastern states, the tendency toward town life had 
become fairly apparent, so far as that section was con- 
cerned. The population of New York City had more than 
trebled, rising from sixty thousand, in 1800, to two hun- 
dred thousand in 1830 ; of this increase, no less than eighty 
thousand had taken place in the last decade, 1820-30. 
Other large cities were Philadelphia, with one hundred and 
sixty-seven thousand inhabitants against seventy thousand 
in 1800; Baltimore, with eighty thousand, and Boston, 
with sixty-one thousand, in comparison with twenty-six and 
twenty-four thousand respectively in 1800. New Orleans, 
with forty-six thousand, was the only city of considerable 
size south of the Potomac and Ohio rivers, as Charleston, 
Savannah, Richmond, and Norfolk had not grown in pro- 
portion to the total populations of the states in which they 
were situated. On the other hand, Cincinnati, on the 
northern bank of the Ohio River, was already a thriving 
town of twenty-four thousand inhabitants. It seemed not 
unlikely that the same distinctions between the free and 
the slave states, noticeable east of the Alleghanies, would 
soon find their counterpart west of those mountains. 



I830] 



Population and Area 



383 



274. Influence of Slavery.— The total population had Increased 
more than doubled in thirty years, the slave population =1^^". 
increasing in almost precisely the same proportion as the 
white population. The latter had numbered nearly four 
millions in 1800; in 1830 it was ten and one half millions; 
the slave population, in the same time, had increased from 
nine hundred thousand to over two millions, and there 




Density of population, 1830 

were about three hundred thousand free negroes in 1830, 

mostly in the Northern states. In 1800 the free white Distribution 

inhabitants had been distributed between the North and o^siaveand 

free popula- 

South, in proportion of twenty-five to thirteen. In 1830 tion. 
the proportion was about the same ; but the South had 
maintained its place only through the acquisition of Louisi- 
ana and Florida and the rapid settlement of the states bor- 
dering on the Gulf of Mexico. The influence of slavery in influence oi 
limiting population becomes at once apparent by a study slavery. 



384 



The National Democracy 



[§275 



of the figures relating to the thirteen original states. In 
1800 the free whites living east of the Alleghanies and 
north of Maryland had outnumbered those in the Southern 
states, excluding the people of Kentucky and Tennessee, 
two to one; in 1830 they outnumbered them five to one. 
The introduction of improved methods of transport, and 
the further encouragement of Northern manufactures, would 
still further build up the manufacturing and commercial 
towns in the northeastern states. Unless something were 




Improve- 
ments in 
transpor- 
tation, 
1800-30. 



Stagecoach, 1829 

done to check this growth, the time was not far distant when 
the free population of the North would outnumber that of 
the South five to one. Discerning Southern leaders were 
already anxious over the outlook. In this fact is to be 
found the reason for their hostility to the continuance of the 
protective system, which they had helped to introduce. 

275. Improvements in Transportation. — It is difiicult 
nowadays to understand the conditions of transport which 
prevailed before the development of the present railway 
system. To those living at the time of Jackson's inaugura- 



1830] Improvements in Transportation 



385 



tion, the ifiiproveraents already made for the conveyance 
of passengers between the centers of commerce and gov- 
ernment seemed wonderful. In 1800 the stage drawn by 
horses had taken three days to convey a passenger from 
Boston to New York. The introduction of the steamboat 
at all possible points had reduced the time occupied by 
the journey, now performed partly by stage and partly by 
steamboat, by one half, — to about thirty-six hours. Boston 
was then about as far from New York as St. Louis is to-day. 

Fulton made his celebrated voyage up the Hudson in the Fulton's 
Clermont in 1807. The steamboat was immediately in steamboat, 
great demand, but it was not until Fulton's monopoly was ^ °^' 
declared unconstitutional that the building and operating 
of steam vessels became free to all. Before the outbreak 
of the War of 181 2 steamboats were placed on the Western 
rivers, at once changing the whole problem of emigration 
and settlement. In 181 8 the first steamer appeared on 
Lake Erie ; in 1 830 a daily line was running from Buffalo 
to Detroit. New types of steamers, especially designed 
for lake and river navigation, were rapidly built, and their 
use became well-nigh universal. With the improvement in 
steam navigation, the opportunity for its successful prose- 
cution was greatly enlarged by the opening of canals. 

The most important and successful of these was the Erie The Erie 
canal, connecting Lake Erie with the Hudson. It will be S"^"^'- , 
remembered that the Hudson and Mohawk rivers form a ir,nted 
natural break in the Appalachian system (p. 11), and this states, 
break continues westwardly from the head of the Mohawk ^^^'346. 
to the Great Lakes. From the southern end of the Appa- 
lachian system in Georgia and Alabama, to its eastern and 
northern end in New England, this is the only opening of 
low altitude leading westward, and it was entirely suited to 
the building of a canal. The man who saw this, and whose 
name should always be remembered in this connection as 
a benefactor of mankind, was De Witt Clinton. To his 
energy and ability the building of the canal was due. It 
was opened in 1825, and at once changed the conditions 



386 



The National Democracy 



[§276 



Railroads. 
Schouler's 
United 
States, IV, 
121-131. 



of Western life and made New York the great commercial 
metropolis of the country. Within a year, the cost of con- 
veying a ton of grain from Buffalo to Albany had fallen 
from one hundred dollars to fifteen dollars ; the farmers of 
Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois had been brought within reach 
of the markets of the world. The success of the Erie canal 
gave rise to the building of canals in all directions, and 
induced Adams and Clay to recommend schemes of internal 
improvement which were distasteful to many of their sup- 
porters. The most remarkable of the later canals was the 
Chesapeake and Ohio, designed to connect tide water with 
the great interior waterways. These early canals were 
worked by horse power. Many of them were failures, but 
for a time they played an important part in the develop- 
ment of the country. 

276. Railroads. — On July 4, 1828, three years after the 
completion of the Erie canal, Charles Carroll of Maryland, 
the last survivor of the signers of the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence, drove the first spike on the Baltimore and Ohio 
Railroad, the earliest line designed for the conveyance of 
both passengers and freight. By 1830 fifteen miles of it 
were completed. In the beginning, the cars or coaches 
were drawn by horses, but in 1829 one of Stephenson's 
locomotives was imported and served as a model until the 
first type of the American locomotive was evolved. By 
1832 the Baltimore and Ohio had reached a point seventy- 
three miles from Baltimore, and had been equipped with 
locomotives capable of making fifteen miles an hour. In 
1830 there were twenty-three miles of railroad in opera- 
tion; building now proceeded rapidly, and by 1840 there 
were about twenty-three hundred miles in operation, or 
ready for traffic. Congress (1832) encouraged this work 
by providing that duties should be refunded on all rails 
laid down within three years of importation. At the outset, 
these roads were designed to connect towns already in 
existence, or the existing water routes ; they were intended 
to replace the stagecoaches. Afterwards the railroads were 



1830] Social Changes 387 

generally built first, giving the means of settlement to a 
new section of the country, and then transporting the prod- 
uce of that region to the existing water communication. 
In this manner, the interior began to be settled away from 
the rivers. In the decade 1840-50, five thousand miles 
of railroad were built; but it was not until after 1850 that 
the pushing of the railroad into new sections was done with 
great vigor. Of the thirty lines at first projected, only 
three, and those short lines, were designed to be built south 
of the Potomac River. 

277. Other Inventions. — During this period there was a Inventions, 
great change in the iron industry, due partly to the demand 

for iron in railroad building and operating, and partly, per- 
haps, to the tariff; but more especially to the introduction 
of anthracite coal for the smelting of iron. The same 
coal was also used in the furnaces of locomotives. The 
eifect of this adaptation of anthracite to the production of 
iron was to centralize the iron industry in Pennsylvania. 
Coal also came into use for heating dweUings, and, coupled 
with the introduction of illuminating gas for street and 
house lighting, completely changed urban life in the North. 
At the close of this period came the introduction of another 
great invention, — the electric telegraph. By 1845, there- 
fore, American life, in the North at least, may be said to 
have thrown off the colonial guise, which it still wore at 
Jackson's inauguration, and to have taken on its modern 
form. 

278. Social Changes. — The growth of democratic ideas. Social 
of which the widening of the suffrage is one of the best tests, <^^^°g^5- 
had now taken a firm hold on the people ; only two North- 
ern states preserved the old property franchise. With the 
coming in of new economic forces, wealth began to accumu- 
late in fewer hands , corporations began to take the place 

of individuals ; and speculators began ta make and lose for- 
tunes by holding Western lands, by manipulating railroad 
stocks, and by establishing moneyed institutions of one 
kind or another. 



388 



The National Democracy 



[§ -'79 



Literary and 

scientific 

workers. 



Education. 



The change which had come over society was especially 
marked by the sudden outburst of an x\merican literature. 
Of those who wrote before 1830, Bryant, Irving, and Cooper 
have made enduring reputations ; they were still at work. 
Between 1830 and 1845, Emerson and Hawthorne, Long- 
fellow and Lowell, Whittier and Holmes, Poe, Prescott, 
and George Bancroft began their labors ; Jared Sparks laid 
the foundation for the study of American history ; Kent, 
Story, and Wheaton began the publication of law books on 
scientific foundations ; and Asa Gray, Benjamin Peirce, 
J. D. Dana, Joseph Henry, Silliman, and Louis Agassiz 
began their scientific investigations and teaching. 

279. Education and Religion. — The colleges, also, awoke 
from their eighteenth-century lethargy ; but the progress 
made in the art of teaching was slight, except that science 
claimed more attention than had formerly been the case. 
One hopeful sign was the increased resort to the colleges 
and the interest taken in the higher education by the peo- 
ple. The common-school system spread throughout the 
new West, and it was greatly stimulated by the wise liber- 
ality of the government in devoting one thirty-sixth part 
of the public lands to that purpose. Unhampered by the 
traditions which encircled educational institutions in the 
older settled regions, these Western schools became, many 
of them, model institutions of their kind. 

Secondary education also began to assume prominence. 
To the " grammar " schools, which had now almost disap- 
peared, and the academies, never numerous, were added the 
high schools. Through these new institutions the urban 
communities provided by taxation fuller opportunities, 
especially in the modern subjects, and prolonged the 
period of public education from two to four years. Begin- 
ning in Boston (1821), high schools have spread first to the 
principal cities and then to all the larger towns, broaden- 
ing their scope as they have increased in number. Their 
service in stimulating elementary education and in train- 
ing, under democratic conditions, the young people fi^m 




/^^y^ (^^^~id«^4j^ 



American men of science 



390 



The Natiotial Democracy 



[§280 



Religion. 



The South. 



Party 
organization. 



all social classes, is not easily overestimated. But little 
later in origin were the normal schools, in which teachers 
are trained for the common schools. These have more 
slowly but steadily multiplied. Not the least valuable 
part of their influence is seen in the somewhat recent 
establishment of courses in the art of teaching in the lead- 
ing universities. 

In religion, there was a great upheaval. The old forms 
of thought everywhere gave way, and new sects began to 
rise. The greatest blow given to the old order of things 
was the disestablishment of the Congregational Church in 
New England, and the vigorous growth of Unitarianism on 
its ruin. The Unitarians were not formidable in point of 
number, but the liberalizing tendencies of which they were 
the exponent were soon to dominate American life in the 
North. 

In all this march of progress, in all this great mental and 
material awakening, the South had no part ; the census of 
1840 showed a large growth in every Northern state; at 
least one Western state had doubled its population in ten 
years ; the old South, on the other hand, seemed at a stand- 
still. Georgia, alone, had made an important gain. As 
it was in material affiiirs, so it was in intellectual matters : 
not one of the writers, poets, essayists, historians, or men 
of science whose names have been given above lived and 
worked in the South. Moreover, in 1840, no less than 
sixty-three per cent of the illiterate white adults were to 
be found in that section of the country. 

280. The Spoils System, 1829. — Jackson's administra- 
tions mark not only a great change in the material and 
mental development of the nation \ they mark, also, a great 
change in pohtical methods and modes of action. Up to 
this time there had been no national party machinery ; in 
most states, there had been no local party machinery. In 
two states, however, Pennsylvania and New York, most 
highly developed party organizations had been built up by 
Van Buren, Marcy, and other politicians of the new type. 



i83o] 



Webster and Hayne 



391 



It is hardly necessary to describe in detail the means by 
which these poHticians compassed their ends : they are 
familiar to all. In brief, it may be said that they organized 
the party workers on a semimilitary plan, paying the laborers 
for their labor by public ofiSces — when the party was success- 
ful. These politicians saw " nothing wrong in the rule that 
to the victors belong the spoils of victory." They now in- 
troduced the spoils system of party organization into national 
politics. 

Jackson, it was well known, regarded his fight for the 
presidency as a personal matter : those who helped him were 
his personal friends ; those who opposed him were his per- 
sonal enemies. It was generally expected that he would 
"reward his friends and punish his enemies." Removals 
at once began, and all who had not shouted loudly for Jack- 
son were displaced. Then came the turn of those who 
had been long in office, for long tenure was in itself an 
evidence of "corruption." In nine months, more than a 
thousand officials had been removed, as against one hundred 
and sixty during all the preceding administrations. Appoint- 
ments were made on similar principles ; those who had 
" worked " for Jackson were presumably honest and efficient. 
The new President was anxious that only good men should 
be employed, but it was impossible for him personally to 
examine into the credentials of such hordes of applicants. 
In the end it appeared that many very unfit persons had 
been admitted to the public service. 

In his management of public business, also, Jackson 
broke away from all precedents. He held few cabinet 
meetings, and made up his mind chiefly on the advice of 
a small group of personal friends, — men of ability, — who 
formed what was known at the time as the " kitchen 
cabinet." 

281. Webster and Hayne, 1830. — A student skilled in 
the interpretation of historic facts might have predicted 
in 1828 that the moment was not far off when the South 
would again take up the weapon of " state interposition," 



The " spoils 
system." 



Jackson and 

the civil 

service. 

Schouler's 

United 

States, III, 

451-461. 



Position of 

the South. 

Schouler's 

United 

States. 

111,482. 



392 



The National Democracy 



[§281 



which Jefferson had referred to in the original draft of 
the Kentucky Resolutions, and the New England Federal- 
ists had adopted during the troublous years 1807-15, and 
had finally set forth in the resolutions of the Hartford 
Convention (pp. 343, 345). It was the weapon of the 
minority : the Southerners were now rapidly falling behind 
in point of numbers, and they naturally occupied the po- 
sition which the New Englanders, who were now strong in 
their alliance with the Westerners, had abandoned. As one 




Webster's house at Marshfield, Massachusetts 

means of strengthening their position the Southerners tried 
to separate the Western men from those of the East on the 
ground that the latter were hostile to the further develop- 
ment of the West. 

The leaders in the debate were Robert Y. Hayne of South 
Carolina and Daniel Webster of Massachusetts. Drifting far 
away from the subject under discussion, Hayne set forth in 
luminous phrases the Calhoun theory of states' rights. In 
his splendid rejoinder, Webster stated the theory of national 
existence. This latter speech, full of burning enthusiasm, 



I830] 



Webster and Hayne 



393 



richly deserves the foremost place it occupies among the 
masterpieces of American eloquence. Hayne rested his 
argument on the premises used by Jefferson and the men of 
New England : the Constitution was a compact, the states 
were sovereign when they formed it, and had retained their 
sovereignty, although creating another sovereign power. 
" In case of deliberate and settled differences of opinion 



"1!^^^ 




Webster and 
Hayne, 1830. 
Schouler's 
United 
States, III, 
483-488 ; 
American 
History Leaf' 
lets. No. 30; 
Johnston's 
Orations, I, 
233-302. 



'""^..^ 



Daniel Webster 
From photograph of Powers's bust 

between the parties to the compact as to the extent of the 
powers of either," Hayne maintained that " resort must be 
had to their common superior, three fourths of the states 
speaking through a constitutional convention." This appeal 
could be made by any state, for " the federal government is 
bound to acquiesce in a solemn decision of a sovereign 
state, acting in its sovereign capacity, at least so far as 
to make an appeal to the people for an amendment to 



394 



The National Democracy 



[§281 



Careless use 
of language. 



Comments 
on Webster's 
argument. 



the Constitution.'* Webster, on his part, contended that 
the Constitution was in no sense a compact, but an in- 
strument whereby the " People of the United States " 
estabhshed a strong centrahzed government and endowed 
it with ample powers to enforce its rights ; for a state 
to resist the enforcement of a national law was revolu- 
tion if it succeeded, rebellion if it failed. The student 
will do well to study the more important portions of these 
speeches. 

Webster and Hayne between them had stated the two 
ideas of the Constitution around which the history of the 
United States was to center for the next thirty years. Un- 
fortunately, in all these controversies, there was a most per- 
sistent use of loose language on the part of the Southerners. 
For instance, in the speech just quoted, Hayne spoke of 
"sovereign states'* as having a "common superior." Of 
course a sovereign state has no superior; if a state has a 
superior, it is not sovereign. The Southerners, however, 
continued to use precise terms in inaccurate senses, and 
thus deluded themselves with the belief that their states 
really were sovereign. Another example of the same mis- 
use of language is to be found in the sentences above 
quoted, for Hayne appeared to regard the federal govern- 
ment as a party to " the compact " by which it had been 
brought into existence. 

Henry Cabot Lodge, in his interesting life of Webster, 
maintains that Webster's argument was historically unsound ; 
he asserts that in 1787-88 "there was not a man in the 
country . . . who regarded the new system as anything but 
an experiment entered upon by the states, and from which 
each and every state had the right peaceably to withdraw, a 
right which was very likely to be exercised." He asserts, 
furthermore, " that when the Virginia and Kentucky Reso- 
lutions appeared they were not opposed on constitutional 
grounds, but on those of expediency and of hostility to 
the revolution [of 1800] which they were considered to 
embody." With this statement Professor Woodrow Wilson 



t832] Nullification 395 

of Princeton University would appear to be in substantial 
accord, when he writes : " The ground which Webster took, 
in short, was new ground ; that which Hayne occupied, old 
ground." Other writers, as Professor A. C. McLaughlin 
of Michigan University, maintain, on the contrary, that 
"since the adoption of the Constitution the American 
people have been legally a state, and that Calhoun and 
Jefferson Davis [and presumably the New England Federal- 
ists as well] were technically as well as morally wrong." 
Whatever may be the historical truth as between these dis- 
putants, there can be no question that Hayne and Calhoun 
stood for ideas which were soon to be repudiated by the 
majority of American citizens, and that Webster stated the 
theory of constitutional interpretation which was to be pre- 
dominant in the future, and to come victorious out of the 
test of civil war. 

282. Nullification, 1832, 1833. — In 1832, Congress took Tariff of 
tip in earnest the subiect of tariff revision ; the rates were ^^32. 

, , , , . . , , Rhodes's 

lowered but the protective system was reorganized on what united 
promised to be a permanent basis. The South Carolinians states, i, 
determined to resist it, and to try the weapon of minorities, 43-53- 
— " state interposition." The master spirit in this movement 
was Calhoun, and the upholder of the rights of the federal Jackson and 
government was Andrew Jackson. Born in the same neigh- g^^Q°"g"'.g 
borhood, of the same Scotch-Irish stock, these two men had United 
up to this time been friends. It now came to Jackson's ears states, 
that Calhoun, who had always expressed the highest regard ''^^ 
for him, had actually proposed that Jackson should be cen- 
sured for his bold action in the Seminole War (p. 353). To 
one of the President's temperament, no friend could have 
made such a suggestion. Calhoun was read out of the party 
and his friends turned out of the cabinet. Even before this 
time, Jackson had given plain intimation of the line of con- 
duct he would take if South Carolina should attempt to 
assert her pretended right of " veto " of national laws. At a 
banquet on Jefferson's birthday, he had given the toast which 
dismayed his Southern hearers: "Our federal Union: it 



396 



The Natio7ial Democracy 



[§282 



Jackson's 

re-election, 

1832. 



must be preserved." He also had already informed one 
South Carolinian that " if a single drop of blood shall be 
shed there [South Carolina] in opposition to the laws of the 
United States, I will hang the first man I can lay my hand 
on, upon the first tree I can reach." 

In November, 1832, Jackson was re-elected President by 
an overwhelming majority, receiving two hundred and nine- 
teen votes out of a total of two hundred and eighty-eight. 



Grievance 
of South 
Carolina. 




John C. Calhoun 

He regarded this triumphant re-election as an indorsement 
of his political views, and indicative of the wish of the " sov- 
ereign people" that he should use his power to put his polit- 
ical views into practice. In reality, the vote was due to his 
personal popularity, and to the lack of harmony in the ranks 
of his opponents. 

It is difficult to understand precisely what the grievance 
of the South was on the subject of the tariff. Calhoun had 
been one of the most ardent advocates of the establishment 



1833] 



The Force Bill 



397 



Nullification, 
1832. 



of the protective policy in 181 6 (p. 348) ; it is hard to see 
how the South was being oppressed by its operation. Its 
exports were large : nearly three fourths of the total exports 
of the country came from that section. On the other hand, 
the increased prices to be paid for protected goods were 
paid equally at the North and at the South. The real fact 
at the bottom was that the South was falling behind in 
material development ; that was due to slavery. The South- 
erners had a sense of grievance, though they hesitated to 
recognize in what their grievance consisted, or that they 
alone were responsible for it. The leaders of South Caro- 
lina determined to make their power felt : they held a state 
convention (November, 1832), declared the tariff acts of 
1828 and 1832 null and void, and of no force. They for- 
bade South Carolinians to pay duties levied under the de- 
tested tariff acts after February i, 1833. 

283. The Force Bill. — Jackson met the issue in a direct Jackson's 
and soldierly fashion. In a proclamation (December 10, P'ociama- 
1832) he declared that "The laws of the United States schouiei's 
must be executed. I have no discretionary power on the United 
subject, — my duty is emphatically pronounced in the Con- 
stitution. . . . Their [the nullifiers'] object is disunion, and 
disunion by armed force is treason." He also warned " the 
citizens of South Carolina . . . that the course they are 
urged to pursue is one of ruin and disgrace to the very 
state whose right they affect to support." He dispatched 
soldiers and naval vessels to Charleston, and directed the 
collector of that port to collect die duties, using force if 
need be. He also appealed to Congress to enlarge his 
powers to enable him to execute the law. Congress passed 
a bill — the Force Bill — giving him the powers he desired. 
It was evident that Jackson was in earnest. The South 
Carolina leaders, therefore, held an informal meeting, and 
suspended the operation of the nulHfication ordinance; 
whence they derived the authority thus to overrule the will 
of the " sovereign people of South Carolina " has never been 
stated. 



IV, 89. 



398 The National Democracy [§ 284 

Compromise 284. The Compromise Tariff, 1833. — The matter, how- 

Tariff, 1833. ever, was not to come to open warfare. The other South- 

UnUed crn States, although they sympathized with South Carohna 

states, on the subject of the tariff, and although many Southern 

T C^T' . men regarded secession as a right, did not agree with Cal- 

Johnston's ° 070 

Orations, IV, houn as to the efficacy or rightfulness of nullification. They 
202-237. ranged themselves on the side of the administration, or, at 

least, did not aid South Carolina. Virginia, on some con- 
stitutional ground not easily discoverable, pretended to act 
in the guise of a " mediator." On the other hand, the 
administration itself, and many of its leading supporters, 
did not .believe in protection, or, at all events, not in high 
protection. Clay seized this favorable opportunity to try 
to effect a compromise, and this he easily accomplished. 
The Compromise Tariff Act became law on March 3, 1833, 
one day after the Force Bill received Jackson's assent. It 
provided for a return to the low tariff of 181 6 by a gradual 
reduction spread over ten years ; one tenth of the excess of 
twenty per cent was to be removed each second year, until 
January, 1842, when one half of the remainder should be 
removed, the other half being removed in the following 
July. By 1843, therefore, the tariff would return again to 
the low duties of 181 6; at the same time the protective 
principle, as a basis of national policy, would be saved. It 
was already known that South Carolina would accept this 
compromise. Accordingly, another state convention was 
held, the ordinance' nullifying the tariff of 1832 was re- 
pealed, and another ordinance nullifying the Force Bill was 
passed. 

The real cause of grievance, as has been already stated, 
was not the tariff: it was the effects of slavery in limiting 
the South to agricultural pursuits. Instead of recognizing 
the mischiefs inevitable to this condition of affairs, and 
energetically going to work to relieve itself of the burden 
of slavery, the South, under the lead of Calhoun, changed 
its ground of attack, and recognized that " the basis of 
Southern union must be shifted to the slave question." 



t83i] 



Antislavery Move-niertt 



399 



285. The Antislavery Agitation, 1831-38. — The years 
of the nuUification episode marked the beginning of an 
agitation against the further continuance of slavery which 
never ceased until slavery was done away with during the 
Civil War. In 1831 two occurrences brought the question 
before the people of the North and the South. The first 
of these was a slave insurrection in Virginia, the second 
was the establishment of the Liberator in Boston, by Wil- 
liam Lloyd Garrison. The insurrection at Southampton, 
Virginia, was headed by Nat Turner, a negro slave, and 
resulted in the kiUing of sixty whites and of more than one 
hundred negroes before it was stamped out. To the South- 
erners, conscious of the perils always surrounding them, it 
appeared to be a dreadful affair. The Virginia legislature 
discussed the possibility of slave emancipation as a remedy, 
— the last time this subject was debated in any Southern 
legislature. The other Southern states made it the occasion 
for making sharper laws against the blacks, and one state, 
Georgia, by act of its legislature, promised a reward of five 
thousand dollars to any one who would kidnap Garrison and 
bring him into the state to be tried according to Georgia 
laws for inciting slaves to insurrection. As a matter of fact, 
there was no connection whatever between the publication 
of the Liberator and the Southampton insurrection. Wil- 
liam Lloyd Garrison, a Boston printer, had worked at Balti- 
more with Benjamin Lundy on his paper, the Genius of 
Universal Emancipation. Garrison had been imprisoned 
in consequence of an article he had written. He had come 
face to face with slavery on its own soil, and, returning to 
Boston (1831), established the Liberator, written in the 
most outspoken hostility to slavery. Garrison demanded 
immediate abolition of slavery, without compensation to the 
owners. " Let Southern oppressors tremble," he said, "... 
On this subject I do not wish to write with moderation." 
At the moment, however, the overwhelming sentiment in the 
North was against the abolitionists. A few examples will 
serve to show this. 



Early 

antislavery 

agitation. 

Johnston's 

Orations, 

11,3- 



South- 
ampton 
insurrection, 
1831. 



Garrison 
and the 
Liberator. 
Old South. 
Leaflets, 
III. No. i; 
Schouler's 
United 
States, IV, 
202-218. 



400 



The National Democracy 



[§287 



Abolitionists 
opposed in 
the North, 
1833-35- 



Breach of 
the Missouri 
Com- 
promise, 
1836. 



Slavery 

petitions 

presented 

to Congress, 

1836. 

Schouler's 

United 

States, IV, 

220-228. 



The " gag 
resolutions." 



286. Anti-abolition Sentiment in the North, 1833-37. — ■ 

In 1833 a Connecticut schoolmistress, Prudence Crandall, 
admitted a colored girl to her school at Canterbury in that 
state ; the result was the passage of a law by the Connecti- 
cut legislature, prohibiting the establishment of schools for 
negroes or their admission to schools already establishedj 
without the consent of the local authorities. The same 
year a college for the education of blacks was established 
at Canaan, New Hampshire ; a mob razed the building to 
the ground, and not one person was punished for the out- 
rage. Riots directed against the abolitionists also occurred 
in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. In 1835 
Garrison was led about the streets of Boston with a rope 
around his body, and locked up in the jail by the authorities 
to protect him from worse violence. 

In 1836, also, the Missouri Compromise was broken by 
the addition to the northwestern portion of the slave state 
of Missouri of a strip of territory about as large as the state 
of Rhode Island, the land in question being part of that 
which, according to the Compromise of 1820, was to be 
forever free; but slight attention seems to have been paid 
to the matter in the North. 

287. Slavery Petitions in Congress, 1836. — In the spring 
of 1836, the opponents of slavery began again to petition 
Congress in favor of the blacks. The Southerners became 
alarmed, for they dreaded the effect of constant discussions 
of the moral and constitutional position of slavery. At their 
instance, the House of Representatives passed a " gag reso- 
lution," providing that " all petitions, memorials, resolutions, 
propositions, or papers relating in any way ... to the sub- 
ject of slavery . » . shall, without being printed or referred, 
be laid on the table and that no further action shall be had 
thereon." Under the Constitution, Congress could not re- 
fuse to receive petitions ; could Congress, having received 
them, refuse to listen to them and to consider them? John 
Quincy Adams, now representative from Massachusetts, 
thought not. When his name was called, he said, in a loud 



18,361 



Antislavery Movement 



401 



voice, refusing to be stopped : " I hold the resolution to be 
a direct violation of the Constitution of the United States, 
the rules of the House, and the rights of my constituents." 
In the Senate, Calhoun took very strong ground. He de- 
clared the petitions to be " a foul slander on nearly one half 
of the states of the Union." As to slavery, he said : " It 
has grown with our growth, and strengthened with our 
strength. It has entered into and modified all our institu- 
tions, civil and political. None other can be substituted. 
We will not, cannot permit it to be destroyed. ... I ask 
neither sympathy nor compassion for the slaveholding states. 
We can take care of ourselves. It is not we, but the Union, 
which is in danger." Senator Buchanan of Pennsylvania 
warned Calhoun and the Southerners against the results of 
the course they advocated. " Let it be once understood," 
he said, " that the sacred right of petition and the cause of 
the abolitionists must rise or fall together, and the conse- 
quences may be fatal." The Southerners persisted, and the 
Senate also passed " gag resolutions." 

On the 6th of February, 1837, Adams presented a peti- 
tion from twenty-two slaves and asked what should be done 
with it. The Southerners, irritated before, were now beside 
themselves with rage. They threatened him with the peni- 
tentiary, unmindful of the clause in the Constitution (Art. i, 
§ 6) which provides that no member of Congress shall " be 
questioned in any other place " for " any speech or debate 
in either House." Upon being reminded of that provision, 
they endeavored to have him censured at the bar of the 
House ; but Adams defended himself so manfully that the 
attempt was abandoned (February, 1837). 

Meantime another dispute, also turning on slavery, had 
arisen. In 1835 the United States post office at Charles- 
ton, South Carolina, was broken into, and Northern papers 
brought in the mails were seized and burned. Postmasters 
in other places applied to the Postmaster-General, Amos A. 
Kendall, for guidance as to how to deal with antislavery 
publications destined for the South. The Postmaster-Gen- 



Calhoun on 
slavery. 



J. Q. Adams, 
Morse's 
J. Q. Adams, 
ch. iii. 



Abolition 
papers in 
the mails, 
1835-36. 



402 



The National Democracy 



[§288 



Murder of 
Lovejoy. 

1837- 

Schouler's 
United 
States, IV, 
296-302. 



Johnston's 
Orations, II, 
102-114. 



Growth of 
antislavery 
sentiment in 
the North, 



eral avoided giving a direct answer, but Jackson suggested 
the passage of a law to prevent the sending of " incen- 
diary publications " through the mails. Calhoun actually 
reported a bill to oblige Congress to prohibit the circulation 
of publications deemed by any state to be incendiary; but 
this failed of adoption (April, 1836). 

288. Change of Sentiment in the North, 1837, 1838. — 
The first martyr to the cause of abolition was a young New 
Englander, Elijah P. Lovejoy, who had become editor of a 
paper, the Observer, published at St. Louis. Lovejoy was 
not an out-and-out abolitionist, like Garrison ; he was an 
upholder of the freedom of the press. Soon St. Louis 
became dangerous for the .outspoken man ; he removed to 
Alton in Illinois, where he would be in a free state. But 
there was no toleration for abolitionists or the upholders 
of free speech in that town, and Lovejoy was murdered 
while striving to protect his printing presses from those 
/^ y , ^ho wished to 

1837). A meeting was held at Faneuil Hall, Boston, where 
Attorney-General Austin of Massachusetts defended the 
attitude of those opposed to the antislavery agitation in the 
North, and maintained that they stood where the Massa- 
chusetts men of Revolutionary time — whose portraits hung 
on the walls about him — had stood. This was more than 
one Boston man could bear ; Wendell Phillips ascended the 
platform, and in burning language rebuked the " recreant 
American " who, in the interests of the slaveholders, had 
" slandered the dead." The limit of endurance had been 
reached ; public opinion in New England began to change. 
In 1838 the Massachusetts House of Representatives gave 
its hall to an antislavery society for a meeting, and the Con- 
necticut legislature repealed its black laws. Jackson's ad- 
ministration, therefore, marks the moment of that change in 
sentiment on the question which was to determine the course 
of the history of the United States for the next generation. 




1837] Jackson's War on the Bank 403 

289. Foreign Relations, 1829-37. —Jackson was as for- Relations 
tunate in his foreign policy as Adams had been unfortunate ^'*^ f^""^^' 
in his. Van Buren, Secretary of State during his first term, scllouier's 
supplied the qualities needed in successful diplomacy, which United 
Jackson lacked; the President was an outspoken leader of ^^°'*"' ^"' 
men, the secretary a shrewd politician. Owing to the re- 
fusal of Congress to open the ports of the United States to 

British shipping, Great Britain had closed the West India 
ports to United States vessels. Canning died in 1829, and 
in the ministry which followed. Lord Aberdeen was foreign 
minister. He listened to Jackson's overtures ; Congress 
removed many restrictions on British commerce, and Great 
Britain opened the West India ports to the commerce of 
the United States. 

With France there was a long-standing dispute as to the Relations 
payment for spoliations on American commerce committed *'!^ France. 

'■ bcnouler s 

since 1803. In 1830 the French government agreed to United 
pay five million dollars as an indemnity to the United. States, states, in, 
but the French legislature refused to make the necessary ^°'*' ' ^•^^" 
appropriations. At one time, it seemed as if war were 
about to break out between the two countries. In the end, 
France gave way and paid the money (1835). Jackson 
also secured the settlement of long-standing disputes with 
Denmark and Spain, and brought other nations, like Austria, 
to recognize the importance of having friendly relations 
with the United States. 

290. Jackson's War on the Bank. — The Second United The Second 
States Bank had been chartered in 1816, five years after the United States 

Bank. 

older institution associated with Hamilton had come to an «schouier's 

end by limitation. In the case of McCuUoch vs. Maryland United 

(181 9), the Supreme Court, through Chief Justice John ^^^"' ^^• 
Marshall, had decided that the charter of the Bank was 
legal and constitutional (p. 350), and this decision had been 

affirmed in 1824 in a subsequent decision. Jackson, never- jackson's 

theless, felt a dread of the Bank, and he did not regard views as to 

• the Dink 

Marshall's decision as in any way binding on the Executive. 
The President disliked the Bank because he saw in it a 



404 The National Democracy l§ 290 

great monopoly stretching its arms over the whole country, 
able to determine by its action whether one section or 
another should be developed to its utmost. Furthermore, 
Jackson thought that the Bank of the United States was a 
political machine, carried on in the interests of his enemies. 
There is no doubt that it had been badly conducted during 
the first years after 18 16, but for many years before 1829 it 
had been admirably managed by its president, Nicholas 
Biddle. The capital of the country was mainly in the hands 
of those who had slight confidence in Jackson, and the cus- 
tomers of the Bank were undoubtedly composed to a great 
extent of his opponents. Finally, Jackson, and those be- 
hind him, with their strict constructionist views, could 
hardly help reverting to the interpretation of Jefferson 
(p. 272), and regarding the bank charter as beyond the 
power granted to Congress in the Constitution. Jackson at 
once declared his open hostility to the Bank, and Henry 
Clay as eagerly championed the cause of the great institu- 
tion. As time went on, Jackson became more and more 
convinced of the truth of his suspicions, that the Bank was 
a great political machine. This was especially made evi- 
dent to him by the appointment of a strong opponent of his 
party as head of the branch at Portsmouth, New Hampshire. 
The Jacksonian leaders in that state protested. The Secre- 
tary of the Treasury wrote to President Biddle remonstrating 
against what he regarded as a political appointment and 
suggested that the officers of the Bank should be appointed 
without regard to political preferences. Mr. Biddle, in re- 
ply, denied the secretary's right to interfere, at the same 
time asserting that the Bank was conducted without regard 
to politics. 
Qay In 1832, four years before the charter of the Bank would 

champions expire, and when Jackson's opponents, although in a major- 
the Bank, ^^Y ^^ Congress, had not sufficient votes to pass a bill over 
1832. Jackson's veto, Clay brought in a bill to recharter the Bank. 

Jackson promptly vetoed it, and the bill could not be passed 
over his veto. The matter, therefore, became one of the 



^^33} Removal of the Deposits 405 

leading issues in the campaign of 1832. It seems extraor- 
dinary that a man of Clay's poUtical experience should have 
hazarded victory or defeat on such an unpopular issue. 
Jackson asserted with truth that the Bank was an "un- 
American monopoly." It was entirely unlike the national 
banks of to-day, as a national bank can now be organized 
by any set of men who can find enough money to deposit 
the necessary bonds with the government. The people 
sympathized most warmly with Jackson on this as on other 
issues. 

291. Removal of the Deposits, 1833. — One of the chief Removal of 
arguments in favor of the establishment of the Second Bank, *^^ deposits, 
as of the earlier one, was the facilities it gave for the «schouier's 
collections and disbursements of the government. The United 
revenues, as collected, were deposited in the Bank or its ^*"'^"' 

' r 132-170. 

branches, and payments were made by drafts on the insti- 
tution. This business was done by the Bank for nothing, as 
the balances kept by the government enabled it to make large 
sums of money by loans. Apart from constitutional and 
political grounds, and granting the solvency of the Bank, 
the arrangement was most advantageous to the government, 
which saved all the money afterwards used in the con- 
struction of vaults, the payment of custodians, and the 
charges of transportation ; it was advantageous to the peo- 
ple, as the money paid to the government was not with- 
drawn from circulation and locked up, millions at a time, 
in the government vaults ; and it was advantageous to the 
Bank, as it gave it a larger amount of business. The dis- 
advantage was overbalancing ; at any time the Bank might 
exercise an overwhelming power in politics, controlling elec- 
tions by money and starving its financial opponents into 
subjection by the manipulation of exchanges and rates of 
interest. There is no doubt of the reality of these dangers, 
nor is there any doubt that the Bank had taken part in the 
campaign of 1832. The charter of the Bank authorized 
the Secretary of the Treasury to deposit the revenues of the 
government with other banks at his discretion, stating his 



4o6 



The National Democracy 



[§ 292 



The Senate 

censures 

Jackson. 

Jackson's 

Protest. 

MacDon- 

ald's 

Documents, 

Nos. 64, 68. 



Speculative 
mania, 1837. 



reasons for so doing to Congress ; this clause had been 
inserted to enable the government to deposit funds in state 
banks at points where the United States Bank had no 
branch. Jackson determined to use it to secure the with- 
drawal of all the government funds from the Bank. It was 
some time, however, before he could find a secretary who 
would do his bidding. At last he found such a man in 
Roger B. Taney of Maryland. The so-called " removal of 
the deposits " extended over a period of six months, and 
was not so much a removal as a refusal to deposit more 
funds with the Bank to replace those drawn out in the 
ordinary course of business. The public funds were then 
deposited in certain specified state banks, popularly known 
as the " pet banks." The loss of so large a proportion of 
its deposits compelled the United States Bank to adopt 
severe measures to protect its credit and to meet the gov- 
ernment drafts. It called in large sums of money which 
were on loan, and this action brought about a dangerous 
scarcity of money before affairs settled down on the new 
basis. 

The Senate was still in the hands of Jackson's enemies. 
Under the lead of Clay and Webster, it passed a vote cen- 
suring the President for what he had done. To this Jack- 
son repHed in a letter. He protested against the action of 
the Senate in censuring the President, which could only be 
done by impeachment. He declared that the chief magis- 
trate was entitled to interpret the Constitution for himself, 
and that he was not bound by the decisions of the Supreme 
Court, as each department of the government was independ- 
ent of the other two departments. Two years later Jack- 
son's party obtained control of the Senate, and the vote of 
censure was crossed out of the Journal of that body. 

292. Distribution of the "Surplus," 1837. — Historical 
students seem to be fairly well agreed that the check placed 
on the power of the United States Bank by the removal of 
the deposits was in itself a wise action, apart from the con- 
stitutional and political questions involved. The mode and 



1837] Distribution of the '' Surplus'' 407 

time chosen for the accomphshment of this purpose, how- 
ever, were most ijnfortunate. The one institution which 
possessed the ability to set bounds to reckless inflation and 
speculation was deprived of a great part of its power to do 
good, and nothing was put in its place. The government, 
so far from putting a check on the speculative frenzy which 
had taken possession of the people, actually increased it. 
Then, at last, becoming alarmed, Jackson interfered in his 
masterful way and gave the signal for widespread financial 
disaster. 

On the first day of January, 1835, the last installment of Surplus 
the national debt was paid ; the government owed nothing " deposited 
and was collecting about thirty-five millions per year more states, 
than it could reasonably spend on objects which the strict 
constructionists of the Jacksonian school regarded as within 
the scope of the powers of the federal government under 
the Constitution. Moreover, the revenue could not be 
diminished, because it was collected in pursuance to the 
Compromise Tariff Act of 1833, which could not be dis- 
turbed without a breach of faith and without bringing on 
a pohtical crisis that no one desired to see. At the present 
time, the government can hoard its surplus revenues in the 
vaults at Washington and the great financial centers ; but 
the independent treasury system was not then invented. 
No one thought of depositing more money with the " pet 
banks," which already held eleven millions. They were 
mostly situated in the speculative regions of the South and 
West, where democratic banks were abundant ; for, curi- 
ously enough, the administration that had objected to the 
Bank of the United States as a pohtical institution — and 
it was not at the time the objection was made — saw noth- 
ing inconsistent in depositing the nation's money in banks 
which were political machines and litde else. After various 
attempts to relieve the treasury, Calhoun came forward with 
a proposition to loan without interest the surplus funds to 
the states, in proportion to their representation in Congress. 
The money was said to be " deposited " to avoid the con- 



4o8 



The National Democracy 



[§293 



Paper 

money. 



Jackson's 

specie 

circular, 

1836. 

Schouler's 

United 

States, IV, 

257- 



stitutional objection that Congress had no power to raise 
money by general taxation to pay over to«the states. Three 
quarterly payments were made ; then the crash came, and 
the government found itself obliged to borrow money to pay 
current expenses. 

293. The Specie Circular, 1836. — The distribution of 
the surplus was the last thing needed to induce the states, 
especially the newer ones, to plunge into all sorts of extrava- 
gant expenditures. Especially they loaned their credit to 
speculative ventures, and piled up vast debts without a 
thought of the future. This speculative fever was only a 
reflection of what was everywhere going on : land in the 
Eastern cities was rising in price by leaps and bounds ; the 
public lands in the West were being acquired by specula- 
tors, the sales increasing from three million dollars in 1831 
to twenty-five millions in 1836. The government, at that 
time, issued only gold and silver. The administration had 
endeavored to meet the legitimate demand for a larger cir- 
culating medium to carry on the business of the country by 
increasing its output of gold and silver coins, mostly the for- 
mer, and by making certain arrangements with the deposit 
banks, confining their circulation to bills of twenty dollars and 
over, and providing that they should keep a specie reserve 
of one third of the amount of their circulation. These 
measures had slight effect ; " wild-cat " banks increased 
enormously, and the flood of " rag-money " poured forth by 
them effectually destroyed whatever good the government 
measures might have done under ordinary circumstances. 
Jackson, against the advice of his cabinet, resolved to see to 
it that the government no longer received anything save 
gold and silver and notes of specie-paying banks in payment 
for the pubhc lands, and issued a circular to this effect, 
— hence called the "specie circular." This order affected 
the banks in the newer states at once and disastrously. In 
the end it helped greatly to destroy credit everywhere. 
Loaning rates increased in some cases to as high as twenty- 
four per cent. Before the full results of his financial policy 



1840] Independent Treasury Act 409 

wfLre apparent, Jackson retired from office, and, confident 
that the " specie circular " would restore prosperity, handed 
over the government to his friend and successor, Martin 
Van Buren. 

294. Thp Independent Treasury Act, 1840. — Martin Van Martin 
Buren was regarded by his contemporaries as a self-seeking "^^" ^uren 
office-monger, and was held responsible for many of the President 
evil proceedings of "Jackson's reign." This was natural 1836. 
enough; for Van Buren, who was not popular with the 
people, secured the Jacksonian vote by pledging himself 

to carry on the Jacksonian policy. But he was no mere 
politician; indeed, during the critical years of his presi- 
dency he showed himself to be a man of principle, able to 
withstand popular clamor and to bear the strain of the 
unmerited distrust of his fellow-men. The reproach that 
has been cast upon him of being the author of the system 
of proscription of one's political opponents, which so un- 
happily mars Jackson's reputation, does not appear to be 
well founded. It is probable that Van Buren regarded that 
system as unjustifiable and did something to mitigate its 
severity. 

Jackson was scarcely out of office when the panic came. The 
All the state banks suspended specie payment, and many J^g^^^J'^j."'^^"' 
of them failed, — among others, the " pet banks," with scheme, 
their nine millions of government money. Van Buren set 1840. 
himself to invent a plan which would separate the financial ^„ng^ 
business of the government from the financial institutions states, iv, 
of the country. This was the "independent treasury" 276-290,324. 
>cheme, or the " subtreasury " plan, as it is more often 
called. According to this device, which became law in 
1840, the government built great vaults at Washington, 
New York, Boston, Charleston, and St. Louis. At these 
places, and at the mints in Philadelphia and New Orleans, 
government officials were to receive and pay out the gov- 
ernment funds. 

295. The Election of 1840. — During the preceding dec- 
ade, the opponents of Jackson had become welded into a 



4IO 



The National Democracy 



[§295 



Election 

of 1840. 

Schouler's 

Unitei 

States, IV, 

327-340; 

Stanwood's 

Elections, 

123-137. 



formidable party. The Jackson men, after calling them- 
selves Democratic Republicans, had dropped the Republi- 
can, and now became known as Democrats; the Adams 
men, or National Republicans of the earlier day, had as- 
sumed the name of Whigs, probably to distinguish their 
reforming tendencies from the conservatism of the Demo- 
crats. The Whigs also employed their opponents' popular 
methods, and, indeed, outdid them in appeals to the passions 
of the multitude. The party machinery of the present time 
was already organized : nominating conventions, party plat- 
forms, torchlight processions, and the rest. The campaign 
of 1840 stands out in marked contrast to all preceding cam- 
paigns in appeals to 




the eye and to the 
senses. Van Buren 
was a candidate for 
re-election, and the 
Whigs nominated 
WiUiam Henry Har- 
rison, who had been 
their candidate in 
1836, and John Tyler 
of Virginia, a life- 
long Democrat of the 
extreme Calhoun 
school. " Tippeca- 
noe and Tyler too ! " 
became the war cry 
of those opposed to 
Van Buren. The 
Whigs put forward 
no principles save " Down with Van Burenism." They 
pictured the Democratic candidate as "indifferent to the 
sufferings of the people," as sitting in a "stuffed chair" in 
the White House, and as eating out of gold spoons. On 
the other hand, they eagerly adopted the contemptuous 
assertion of a Democratic speaker, that Harrison would be 



WKife. 
Harrison-. 



Election of 1840 



1840 



Tyler s Administration 



411 



satisfied if he were given a log cabin and a barrel of cider. 
Log cabins were erected everywhere ; they were dragged 
around on wheels with men drinking cider before the doors. 
The campaign was one of " hurrah for Tippecanoe," the 
log-cabin, cider-drinking candidate. The Whigs won not 
merely the presidency, but with it a majority in both houses 
of Congress. A month after his inauguration, Harrison was 
dead. For the first time in the history of the country, a 
Vice-President became President owing to the death of his 
chief. 

296. Tyler's Administration, 1841-45. — The first ses- 
sion of the first Congress under the new administration was 
held in May, 1841. It at once became apparent that the trium- 
phant Whigs could not carry out their policy, and President 
Tyler was confronted by a hostile majority in both houses of 
Congress. Tyler was a Whig only in the sense that he was 
opposed to Jacksonianism, in so far as it departed from the 
old Jeffersonian lines. In other respects, he was a strict 
constructionist and a firm states'-rights man. Clay, who 
was the real leader of the Whig party, at once brought for- 
ward a set of measures of reform, as they were conveniently 
regarded. The first of them, to repeal the Independent 
Treasury Act of 1840, passed easily enough. When it came 
to chartering a new national bank, however, it was found 
that Tyler was opposed to the measure on constitutional 
grounds. It was understood that he would consent to the 
establishment of a bank in the District of Columbia with 
branches in such of the states as were willing to have them 
within their limits, A bill passed both houses, with the pro- 
vision for the District of Columbia, but without the provision 
for state assent ; Tyler vetoed it, and the Whigs had not the 
necessary two-thirds vote to pass it over his veto. A bill 
was drawn up for the establishment of a " fiscal corporation" 
in the federal district, with branches, which should not ex- 
ercise full banking privileges. This bill was elaborated after 
conferences with Tyler, and his assent to it was supposed to 
be assured ; when it came to him for his signature, he 



Death of 

Harrison. 

Schouler's 

United 

States, IV, 

359-365- 



John Tyler, 

President, 

1841. 



Tyler and 
the Whigs. 
Schouler's 
United 
States, IV. 
372. 



412 



The National Democracy 



[§297 



Tariff of 

1842. 

Schouler's 

United 

States, IV, 

406. 



Northeastern 

boundary 

dispute. 

Schouler's 

United 

States, IV, 

396-403. 



vetoed it. Every member of the cabinet resigned, except 
Webster, who remained tO conclude important negotiations 
with Great Brita'n. 

More revenue was \irgendy needed, and the Compromise 
Tariff of 1833 (p. 398) having run its course was now capa- 
ble of amendment. The Whigs, therefore, brought in a 
tariff bill considerably increasmg the duties from the twenty 
per cent basis, which had just been reached ; the bill, as 
iirst passed, also contained a pjovision for the distribution 
of surplus revenue among the states. This measure was one 
of those to which Tyler had objected in Jackson's time. 
He vetoed the bill, and it was not until it came before him 
without this clause that he signed it. The other measure 
provided for the payment to the states of the money re- 
ceived from the sales of public lands ; this would have dis- 
guised the fact that the government was collecting more 
revenue under the new tariff than it could properly expend. 
The friends of a low tariff, however, secured an amendment 
whereby the distribution should taks place only when the 
tariff on imports should fall below twenty per cent ad valorem. 
This clause rendered the bill inoperative, as the duties never 
fell to that point. 

297. The Ashburton Treaty, 18^2. — Daniel Webster, 
whom Harrison had selected as Secretary of State, had 
opened negotiations with Lord Ashburton, British minister 
at Washington, for a settlement of the long-standing dispute 
with Great Britain, as to the northeastern boundary of the 
United States. The negotiators of the treaty of 1783 had 
plainly intended to give Canada the same southern boundary 
eastward that it had had according to the Proclamation of 
1763 (p. 117)- This line followed the forty-fifth parallel 
from the St. Lawrence to the Connecticut, and thence along 
" the highlands which divide the rivers that empty them- 
selves into the River St. Lawrence from those which fall 
into the sea." These words were repeated in the treaty, 
except that " Atlantic Ocean " was substituted for " the 
sea," and the northeastern corner of the United States was 



1842] The Ashburton Treaty 413 

declared to be "formed by a line drawn from the source 
of St. Croix River to the Highlands." In maps printed in 
Great Britain immediately after the conclusion of peace, 
this line was merely copied from earlier maps showing the 
southern boundary of Quebec according to the Proclama- 
tion of 1763. But when the time came to run tl e line on 
the spot, the British government raised innumerable diffi- 
culties. First, there was a dispute about the identity of 
the St. Croix River ; that was set at rest by the discovery 
of the ruins of De Monts's houses (p. 50). Then the 
British advanced the theory that the " Highlands " men- 
tioned in the treaty were not those intended in the procla- 
mation, but were much farther south. They based their 
argument on the substitution of the words " Atlantic Ocean " 
in place of " the sea," and contended that the St. John's 
River emptied into the Bay of Fundy and not into the 
Atlantic Ocean. The Highlands, according to this view, 
was a line drawn around the sources of the Penobscot and 
Kennebec, and not the water parting between the St. John's 
and the St Lawrence. The dispute was referred to the 
king of the Netherlands as arbiter. Instead of deciding in 
favor of one of the contending governments, he proposed 
a compromise line, which he had no right to do (1829). 
Meantime, the United States had built a fort at Rouse's 
Point on Lake Champlain. This point was south of the 
forty-fifth parallel according to old surveys, but more accu- 
rate observations showed that it was really north of that 
parallel and therefore in Canada. The controversy was Ashburor 
now settled by Webster and Ashburton, by the adoption of '^'^^^'i ^8., 
a compromise line on the northeast (the present northeast- 
ern boundary of Maine) and the cession of Rouse's Point 
to the United States. At the same time, the extradition 
of certain specified classes of criminals was agreed to, and 
a long series of negotiations for the suppression of the 
African slave trade was arranged by the conclusion of what 
was called the "cruising convention," which obliged each 
nation to keep a squadron of a certain strength always 



414 The National Democracy [§297 

cruising on the African coast. This arrangement produced 
less valuable results than its authors expected ; but Webster 
followed his Whig colleagues into retirement, convinced that 
he had done something " for the peace of the world." Be- 
fore long Calhoun succeeded him as Secretary of State. 



SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS AND TOPICS 

§§ 273-279. The United States in 1830 

a. Examine the maps on pp. 299 and 383, and tabulate the growth 
of the several states; arrange the free and the slave states in separate 
columns. 

b. Bring to class digests of the lives of Robert Fulton and De Witt 
Clinton. 

§§ 271, 272, 280. Andrew Jackson 

a. Study the career of Andrew Jackson under the following heads: 
personal appearance, personal influence; preparation for public life; 
military career, strength and weakness of character; importance of 
his administrations; has his influence on politics been good or bad ? 

b. The constitutional theories of Jackson's party; state them at 
length; how much of them can you find in our political system to-day? 

c. Rise of the Spoils System : study it in a larger book and say 
whether Jackson's course was the result or the cause of the Spoils 
System. 

§§ 281-284. The Nullification Episode 

a. Why was "state interposition " the "weapon of the minority" ? 

b. Define sovereignty. What is your idea of a state ? of a nation? 

c. Compare Jackson's action in 1832-33 with Buchanan's inaction 
in 1860-61. 

d. Had the South a real grievance in 1832 ? What was it ? Give 
precedents for nullification. 

e. Was it fortunate or unfortunate that the dispute was compromised 
in 1833 ? Give reasons. 

§§ 285-288. Antislavery Agitation 

a. Slavery : has the history of any modern nation other than the 
United States been profoundly affected by slavery ? WTiat effect would 
slavery in a new country be likely to have upon free white immigra- 
tion, and why ? 



Questions and Topics 415 

6. Were the "gag resolutions" a direct violation of the Constitu- 
tion ? Give reasons. What was the case as to " incendiary publica- 
tions " ? 

§§ 290-294. Financial Affairs, 1830-40 

a. Supposing the " removal of deposits " to have been justifiable, 
was the mode in which it was done expedient ? Does the federal 
government now deposit money with the national banks ? 

b. Discuss the minor constitutional questions involved : (i) Jack- 
son's assumption of responsibility ; (2) right of the Senate to censure 
the President ; (3) right of the President to protest; (4) right of the 
Senate to expunge resolutions from its Journal. 

c. The Independent Treasury system : describe it and trace its his- 
tory to the present time ; how are government payments made to-day ? 

d. State carefully the effects upon the crisis of 1837 of (i) develop- 
ment of machinery, (2) government deposits in state banks and the 
distribution of the surplus, (3) contraction of loans by the United 
States Bank, (4) Specie Circular. 

§ 295. Election of 1840 

a. Trace the formation of the Whig party. Was the Democratic 
party of 1840 any more the successor of the Republican party of 1801 
than was the Whig party ? Give your reasons. 

b. If you had lived in 1840, what party would you have favored and 
why ? What would have been the case in 1824 ? 

§§ 296-297. Tyler's Administrations 

a. Public lands: review history since 1780; describe Jefferson's 
and Gallatin's attitude towards ; note as a party issue until the Civil 
War ; what is the present policy as to public lands ? 

b. The tariff: review history since 1816 ; how long were the low 
rates of the compromise tariff of 1833 in actual operation ? sketch 
briefly the history of the tariff in Great Britain, 1816-44. 

c. Trace the history of the Northeastern Boundary Dispute from 
1783, and describe the settlement made in 1842. Represent in colors 
this history upon a sketch map. 

General Questions 

a. Compare the leading men of this period with those of the period 
of the Federalist supremacy and with those of the Jeffersonian epoch. 

b. Review your notes on " Slavery," " financial history," " Particu- 
larism," and prepare for continuous recitation. 

c. Represent upon a chart the origin and varying fortunes of the 
different parties which have appeared up to 1844. 



4i6 The National Democracy 

d. Reports based on study of secondary authorities : assign to 
individual students the lives of the persons mentioned in § 279, also 
the lives of Garrison and of Phillips. 

Topics for Investigation by Individual Students 
(See note under this head on p. 48.) 

a. Summarize the arguments (i) of Hayne, (2) of Webster, (3) of 
Calhoun (393, first group, last two). 

b. Compare arguments (l) of Hayne and Webster, (2) of Webster 
and Calhoun (393, first group, last two). 

c. The Faneuil Hall meeting (402, second group). 

d. Tabulate the electoral vote of 1840, and compare it with the 
electoral votes of 1824 and of 1844. 



I 



CHAPTER XI 

SLAVERY IN THE TERRITORIES, 1844-1859 
Books for Consultation 

General Readings. — Johnston's American Po/i^ics, 149-189; WU- 
son's Division and Reunion, 141-204. 

Special Accounts. — Lodge's Webster (S. S.) ; Schurz's Clay (S. S.) ; 
Von Hoist's Crt//i(?«« (S.S.); Dawes's .Swww^r (M. A.) ; Schouler's 
United States ; *Rhodes's United States, especially vol. I, ch. iv (slavery) ; 
♦Greeley's American Conflict; *Goodeirs Slavery ; Clarke's Anti- 
Slavery Days; *Draper's Civil War ; *Taussig's Tariff History; 
Adams's Dana ; Spring's Kansas (A. C.) ; Larned's History for Ready 
Reference; Wilson's Presidents. Larger biographies of the leading 
statesmen, Guide, § 25. 

Sources. — American History Leaflets ; Benton's Abridgment a^nH 
Thirty Years' View; 'M.d.cDona.ld.'s Documents ; y^iWi^-ms's Statesman's 
Manual ; Greeley's Slavery Extension ; Johnston's American Ora- 
tions. Writings of leading statesmen, Guide, §§ 32, 33. 

Maps. — Mac Coun's Historical Geogi-aphy ; Hart's Epoch Maps, 
Nos. 7, 8, II, 12. 

Bibliography. — Channing and Hart, Guide to American History, 
§§ 56 a, 56 b (General Readings), §§ 189-202 (Topics and References). 

Illustrative Material. — McCuUoch's Men and Measures ; ^3.x- 
genVs Public Af en ; Blaine's Tiventy Years; '^xw.c&'s Houston Q<\. K^; 
Garrisons' Garrison ; Ripley's. War with Mexico ; Grant's Personal 
Memoirs; Wise's Seven Decades ; Pike's First Blows of the Civil 
War; Mary's Recollections ; *Stephens's War between the States ; ^^n- 
hoxn'sjohrt Brown ; VoWztd's Lost Cause ; Frederick Douglass's Life 
and Times i iiison's Side Lights on American History. 

Lowell's Biglow Papers, Ode to Garrison, and Fugitive Slaves; 
Longfellow's Poems on Slavery ; Whittier's Angels of Buena Vista 
and Anti-slavery Poems ; Tourgee's Hot Plowshares ; Eliot's Story of 
Archer Alexander; Bret Harte's Tales of the Argonauts, and other 
Stories of California life. 

SLAVERY IN THE TERRITORIES, 1844-1859 

_ ^, . Influence ol 

298. Necessity for More Slave Temtory. — In the great slavery on 
material expansion which had marked the period since the population. 

417 



41 8 Slavery in the Territories [§ 298 

close of the War of 1812, — more especially the years suc- 
ceeding Jackson's election, — the South had enjoyed a share. 
Slaveholding states on the Gulf of Mexico had been ad- 
mitted to the Union, and three slaveholding states had 
been formed out of territory comprised in the Louisiana 
Purchase. The older Southern states had grown slowly, 
and had been outstripped by the older Northern states, 
while the free states of the Northwest had developed with 
startling rapidity. The census of 1840 plainly showed that 
the Southern states as a whole were falling behind in popu- 
lation and wealth when compared with the Northern states 
as a whole — for negro slavery was adapted only to agricul- 
tural employments. 
Undue Up to this time, the Southern voters had enjoyed an 

power of undue, even a controlling power in the national councils, 

the South. . ' . ° .^ . r 1 1 • M ^ 

owmg to the operation of the "federal ratio (p. 238), 
which gave them representation in the lower branch of the 
federal Congress out of all proportion to their numbers. ^ 
The North had developed so fast that there was no longer 
any hope of retaining control of the House of Representa- 
tives. The Southerners' only hope lay in the formation 
of new slave states, each of which, regardless of popula- 
tion, would send two senators to Washington. It might be 
possible, perhaps, to convert one or more of the free states 
to slavery; but no state which had once been free soil had 
ever returned to slavery. It was' also possible to break the 
Missouri Compromise — as had already been done (p. 400) 
— and build up slave states in the unorganized national 
domain west of the Mississippi. The easiest way to ac- 
complish their end, however, was to acquire new territory 
more suitable to slavery than that west and north of 
Missouri. Texas offered the best chance, and to its 
acquisition the Southern leaders bent all their energies. 
Meantime, the never-ceasing efforts of the Northern 
abolitionists were beginning to bear fruit. Slowly but 
surely they were bringing the mass of the people in the 
North to regard slavery as morally wrong. The time was 



1845] 



Annexation of Texas 



419 




not far distant when Northern public opinion would be fixed 
on one point: that slavery should not blacken more of the 
soil of the United States. The Southerners, on the other 
hand, were unanimous that "expansion was as necessary to 
the increased comfort of the slave, as to the prosperity of 
the master." 

299. The Annexation of Texas, 1845. —Texas had prac- 
tically been seized by emigrants from the Southern states. 
They had over- 
turned its constitu- 
tion as one of the 
states of the Mexi- 
can Republic; had' 
adopted a new con- 
stitution, permitting 
slavery; and, under 
the leadership of 
Samuel Houston, 
had proclaimed 
their independence 
(1836). Mexico had 
failed to conquer 
the rebellious prov- 
ince, and Texas had 
been recognized as 
an independent 
state by the United 
States and by several European powers. The people of 
Texas desired to be admitted to the Union as a slave state, 
and the Southerners were desirous that this wish should be 
granted. It proved, however, to be a most difficult matter 
to manage. It would certainly arouse dangerous excite- 
ment in the North, and for this reason both Jackson and 
Van Buren would have nothing to do with it. Tyler, a 
slave owner of the Calhoun school, had no such scruples. 
With the profoundest secrecy, he and Calhoun, who was 
now Secretary of State, negotiated a treaty of annexation. 




Samuel Houston 



Independ- 
ence of 
Texas, 1836. 
Schouler's 
United 
States, IV, 

247-257. 
302-307. 



Southerners 
desire 
annexation 
of Texas. 



420 



Slavery in the Territories 



[§299 



Election 
of 1844. 
Stanwood's 
Elections, 
140-160. 




^ip-Y ILL I |NDl°"*°''-''--'^M 



Annexation 
of Texas, 
1845. 



This was laid before the Senate for ratification. That body 
refused to assent to it (1844), and the controversy became 
the leading issue in the presidential campaign of that year. 
The Democrats nominated James K. Polk of Tennessee. 
In their platform, they declared for the annexation or re- 
annexation of Texas and for the reoccupation of Oregon. 
The latter territory was too far north for the economical 
development of slavery, and its addition was coupled with 
that of Texas to make the acquisition of this vast slave 

territory more palatable 
to the people of the 
North. The Whigs 
nominated Clay, and 
the abolitionists, who 
were now gathered into 
a party of their own, 

— the Liberty party, 

— also nominated a 
candidate, and thereby 
insured the election of 
the Democratic nomi- 
nee. In point of fact, 
it was difificult for an 
opponent of slavery to 
choose between the two 
leading candidates. 
Clay did not seem to 
know his own mind 

on the subject; he said one thing one day, another thing 
another day. Polk, on the contrary, declared for an- 
nexation, and was elected. His election decided the 
matter; Congress at once passed a joint resolution ad- 
mitting Texas to the Union as a slave state, which Tyler 
signed as one of his last acts as President. Texas gave its 
formal assent on July 4, 1845, and became a state of the 
American Union. According to the Texans' view of their 
boundaries, the new state extended northward to the forty- 




Election of 1844 



1846] Mexican War 421 

second parallel; the resolution admitting Texas provided, Schouier's 
therefore, that slavery should not exist in the new acquisi- '^^'^•^^^ 
tion north of the line of the Missouri Compromise (36° 30'). /^Trj ' 
The value of this concession was disputed by the Northern- 470, 486. 
ers, Greeley asserting that Texas did not approach within 
two hundred mrles of the compromise line. The limits of 
Texas on the south and west were also doubtful. 

300. Mexican War, 1846-48. — The United States and Boundaries 
Texas contended that the new state extended as far south- of Texas, 
ward and westward as the Rio Grande. This river had ir„i{gj, 
been the limit of Texas in 1800, when Spain ceded it states, iv, 
back to France, and also when the United States acquired ^^^' 
it from France as a part of Louisiana in 1803 (p. 318). 
As one of the states of the Mexican Republic, however, 
Texas had extended only as far south as the Nueces 
River. Polk decided to insist on the former inter- 
pretation. He ordered General Zachary Taylor, who 
had been sent to Texas with about four thousand men, 
to cross the Nueces River, and later ordered him to 
advance to the Rio Grande. The Mexicans, regarding 
this forward movement as an invasion of their rights, 
attacked and defeated a small detachment of Taylor's army. 
When the report of the conflict reached Washington (May, 
1846), the President informed Congress that "Mexico has 
shed American blood upon American soil. War exists, 
and exists by the act of Mexico herself." Congress accepted War with 
the issue thus raised, and war followed. The Mexican War M^^^°- 
was in reality an attack on a weak nation by a strong one. sdiouier's 
It happened, however, that the United States armies in the '■'*''l^'^^^ 
field were always largely outnumbered. The American ^25-549, ' 
soldiers won renown by the splendid fighting qualities they v. i-6i.' 
displayed, and the chief commanders gained great military 
reputations. The victories of Palo Alto, Resaca de la 
Palma, and Buena Vista are associated with Taylor's 
name; those of Cerro Gordo, Contreras, Churubusco, 
Molino del Rey, and Chapultepec with that of the com- 
mander in chief, Winfield Scott. Many of those who after- 



422 



Slavery in the Territories 



[§ 300 



wards played an important part in the Civil War received 
their training in this conflict; Grant, Thomas, Lee, 
Jackson, and others served with credit in various capaci- 




Winfield Scott 
After a daguerreotype by Gurney 

ties. While these campaigns were in progress in Mexico 
(1846, 1847), other expeditions seized California and 
New Mexico. On February 2, 1848, a treaty was signed 
at Guadalupe Hidalgo, which, with unimportant amend- 
ments, was ratified by both parties. This agreement pro- 



1846] 



Mexican War 



423 



vided that the United States should pay fifteen million 
dollars direct to Mexico, and some three millions more to 
American citizens who held claims against Mexico. That 
republic, on its part, relinquished to the United States all 
territory north of the Rio Grande and the Gila rivers; the 
cession comprised Texas, in the widest sense of the word, 
New Mexico, California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, and parts 




The United States, 1845 . 

of Colorado and Wyoming. During Polk' s administration, 
also, the boundary of the United States on the northwest 
was established substantially as it is to-day. 

301 . The Oregon Treaty, 1846. —That portion of America Oregon 
lying west of the water parting of the Mississippi and the JJ^"^'°g"' 
Pacific coast systems and north of the forty-second parallel schouler's 
was called Oregon. Its northern limit had been defined in ^"'"f^^ 
1824 and 1825, by treaties between Russia on the one part, J^^l";3_ ' 
and the United States and Great Britain on the other, as 
the parallel of 54° 40' north latitude (p. 359) • The owner- 



424 



Slavery in the Territories 



[§301 



Title of the 

United 

States. 



Title of 

Great 

Britain. 



ship of this vast region had remained disputed between the 
United States and Great Britain; since 1818, it had been 
occupied jointly by the citizens and subjects of the two 
powers. The British occupation had taken the form of fur 
trading; that of the United States was actual settlement in 
the fertile valleys accessible through the passes of the Cor- 
dilleras. The title of the United States was extremely 
vague. It was composed of many elements: (i) the dis- 
covery of the Columbia River by Captain Gray in the Boston 
ship Columbia ; (2) the assignment under the Florida treaty 
of whatever rights the Spaniards might have gained by dis- 
covery and exploration; (3) the exploration of Lewis and 
Clark; and (4) actual settlement. Many other points 
were advanced, but these were the principal ones. It was 
not argued that any one of them gave a good title; but 
it was argued that, taken all together, they constituted a 
better title than that of any other nation. To this the 
British negotiators opposed similar shadowy arguments; 
for instance, they maintained (i) that Drake had sailed 
along the coast before any Spaniard; (2) that the Spanish 
rights amounted to little in view of an agreement as to this 
coast in 1790, known as the Nootka treaty; (3) that an 
English navigator had made a more thorough exploration 
than Gray had undertaken, although it had, in fact, been 
made later, and had been based on information furnished 
by the American; and (4) that the British fur-trading 
companies had practically occupied this region. These 
claims were so vague that compromise was inevitable. 
In 1844, however, the politicians took the matter up as 
a means of propitiating the North as to Texas : the cries 
of "All Oregon or none," "Fifty-four forty, or fight," 
were raised. For a moment it seemed as if the United 
States would go to war with Great Britain and Mexico at 
the same time, but more peaceful counsels prevailed. For 
some years the United States had been willing to continue 
the forty-ninth parallel — the boundary between the Lake 
of the Woods and the Rockies — westward to the Pacific 



1846] 



The Oregon Treaty 



425 



Ocean. This line would have given the southern end of 
Vancouver Island to the United States, and with it the con- 
trol of the Strai.t of San Juan de Fuca, affording the best 
route from the Pacific to the great bays and sounds between 
Vancouver Island and the continent ; but Great Britain 
would not consent. It was now agreed (1846) that the 
boundary between the two powers should be the forty-ninth 
parallel, as far as Vancouver Sound, and should thence 
follow the middle of the channel to the ocean. 

302. The Walker Tariff, 1846. —The triumphant elec- 
tion of Polk, and the consequent return of the Democrats 
to power, was naturally signalized by a reversal of the finan- 
cial policy of the Whigs, and a return to that of the pre- 
ceding decade. This change was brought about by the 
re-enactment of the Independent Treasury Act, and by the 
passage of a new tariff law. The former was substantially 
a repetition of the act of 1840 (p. 409) : subtreasuries were 
to be re-established at the more important commercial cen- 
ters, and provision was made for the safe and economical 
handling of the public moneys. The system has been 
modified from time to time to suit the growing needs of 
the country, but its essential features are still law. 

The new tariff act was based upon the recommendations 
of Robert J. Walker, Polk's Secretary of the Treasury, and 
is always called the Walker Tariff. Under it, imported 
articles were arranged in several schedules, — A, B, C, and 
D, and so on to I, which included articles specifically placed 
on the " free list." Each schedule had its own rate of duty : 
schedule A, 100% ; B,40% ; C,3o% ; D, 25%, etc. Articles 
not included in these schedules were to pay 40% ad valo- 
rem. All the duties were calculated on a valuation made in 
foreign ports, instead of so much on the valuation of the 
commodity in America. This arrangement resulted in gross 
frauds, and inflicted great hardships on honest importers. 
The system was, as Webster declared, " not free trade, but 
fraudulent trade." 

The country was very prosperous during the years that the 



Oregon 
treatj', 
1846, map p 
435- 



Tariff of 
1846. 

Schouler's 
United 
States, IV. 

514-517: 
Taussig's 
State Papers, 
214-251. 



426 



Slavery in the Territories 



[§ 302 



Prosperity, 
1846-57. 



Influence of 
inventions. 



McCormick 
reaper. 



Walker Tariff was in operation. Many writers friendly to 
free trade have maintained that this prosperity was diie to 
the operation of the Walker Tariff, which, in their opinion, 
was practically a free-trade measure. Other students point 
out that it is absurd to regard it as a free-trade measure, 
since the reduction on the rates of 1842 was only about one 
sixth. They argue, moreover, that there is no historical 

evidence to show that 
this comparatively 
slight reduction had 
any considerable in- 
fluence upon the com- 
mercial and industrial 
development of the 
country. They con- 
tend that the remark- 
able prosperity of 
the country between 
1846 and 1857 was 
due to its rapid 
settlement, which was 
made possible by 
many things over 
which tariff legis- 
lation had little or 
no influence. For 
instance, there was a 
great increase in foreign immigration in these years 
(p. 457) and the railroad system of the country was greatly 
extended. Inventions, also, marvelously increased the 
efficiency of human labor and superintendence. For ex- 
ample, the successful introduction of the electric telegraph, 
owing to Morse's invention (1837), made it possible to 
operate great railway systems ; and farming on a large 
scale was immeasurably promoted by the introduction of 
agricultural machinery, as the McCormick reaper (invented 
1 831). The most important manufacture of the United 




Cy. /yf A/ 5'^/'-2>»-^^*^ 



1846] 



The Walker Tariff 



427 



States until recent times was the manufacture of farms, and 
this was more dependent on the development of railroad 
transportation and farm machinery than on the movement of 
tariff duties within the narrow limits affected by the Walker 
Tariff. 




Sutter's mill 

303. California, 1848-50.— On the 24th of January, Discovery 

1848, — ten days before the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo J^J^J^^^ 

was signed, and fully three months before it was ratified,— 1848. 

James W. Marshall discovered several bits of gold in the Schouj^r's 

earth taken from Colonel Sutter's mill race in Coloma, Call- ^^tls, v.. 

fornia. Further investigation confirmed the discovery, and 132. 
before long the existence of gold in that region was known 
throughout the world. From all parts of the United States 



428 



Slavery in the Territories 



[§ 303 



and from Europe, gold hunters sought the new Eldorado. 
Over the plains and the Cordilleras, across the Isthmus of 
Panama, and around Cape Horn, they thronged to Cali- 
fornia. Most of them came from the northern American 
states, but there were many Southerners as well. Before 
November, 1849, more than eighty thousand immigrants — 
"the forty-niners," as they were termed — reached the land 




California 
demands 
admission 
as a free 
state, 1849. 
Schouler's 
United 
States, V, 
142. 



The United States. 1853 

of promise. Their number already exceeded that necessary 
for a territorial organization, and they had scarcely any gov- 
ernment at all. Compelled by necessity to establish some 
form of government, and inspired by the suggestions made 
by an agent sent by General Taylor, the new President, they 
held a convention (November, 1849), drew up a state con- 
stitution, — excluding slavery,- — and apphed for admission 
to the Union as a free state. Soon Californian commis- 
sioners appeared at Washington, and demanded that Cali- 
fornia should be admitted as a free state. Congress was in 



^846] The Wilmot Proviso 



429 



this way forced to come to some decision as to the disposal 
of the vast domain which had just been gained from Mex- 
ico ; but the task was a hard one. 

304. The Wilmot Proviso, 1846. — Even before the TheWiimot 

Mexican War had fairly been begun, and before the United Proviso, 

States had gained a foot of Mexican soil, an attempt had sthtuler's 

been made to settle this question in favor of freedom. The United 

occasion was furnished by the introduction of a bill to pro- ^^'^^"' ^'• 

65-69. 
vide money for the purchase of territory from Mexico. 

When it was before the House, David Wilmot, a Democratic 
representative from Pennsylvania, moved an amendment in 
the form of a proviso that slavery should be forbidden in 
any territory thus acquired. The- bill, with the amendment, 
passed the House, but failed to become law, as the Senate 
did not act upon it until the House had adjourned for the 
session (August, 1846). In the new Congress, elected the 
following November, the Whigs were in a majority in 
the House, but the Democrats retained control of the 
Senate. Meantime, the leaders of the latter party in the 
South had made up their minds to oppose the Wilmot Pro- 
viso should it again be introduced. Accordingly, after con- 
siderable delay, an appropriation bill was passed, without the 
slavery prohibition. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo had 
added some eight hundred thousand square miles of terri- 
tory to the national domain, most of it lying south of 36° 30' 
north latitude, the parallel of the Missouri Compromise line. 
Should slavery be permitted in this vast region, or should 
the principle of the Wilmot Proviso be adhered to? The 
setdement of this question was regarded by Southerners as 
most important ; it appeared scarcely less important to those 
Northerners who were determined that a limit should be set 
to the extension of slavery. This controversy dominated all 
others in the election of 1848. 

305. The Election of 1848. — No fewer than five political 
organizations took part in this contest. First there were 
the Democrats, who nominated Lewis Cass of Michigan, a 
shrewd, clear-headed Northern Democrat. He had com- 



430 



Slavery m the Territories 



[§305 



Election of 

1848. 

Schouler's 

United 

States, V, 

loo-iio; 

Stanwood's 

Elections, 

161-177. 



mended himself to the Southerners by the advocacy of the 
doctrine of " squatter sovereignty," according to which the 
people of each territory were to determine the question of" 
freedom or slavery for themselves. This idea was closely 
related to the Democratic doctrine of states' rights, and its 
adoption seemed likely to prevent a split in that party on the 
question of the extension of slavery. The Whigs nominated 



The Barn- 
burners. 




Election of 1848 

General Taylor of Louisiana for President, and Millard Fill- 
more of New York for Vice-President. They made no state- 
ment of their principles, and thus endeavored to shirk the 
question of the greatest interest in the campaign. By this 
time, the slavery controversy had gone far toward bringing 
about the destruction of political parties in the North. A 
section of New York Democrats, bearing the curious name 
of " Barn-burners," was opposed to slavery in the territories. 
Their delegates appeared at the Democratic convention as^ 
rivals to another group of delegates, who harbored no such 



1848] 



The Election of 184.8 



431 



scruples. The convention decided to admit both delega- 
tions, who should share the votes of New York between 
them ; both delegations withdrew. The Barn-burners, 
with the assistance of delegates from a few other states, then 
held a convention of their own, and nominated Martin Van 
Buren. Another party, the " Free-soilers," which had a The Free- 
larger following, held a convention at Buffalo. Delegates toilers. 
from eighteen states appeared. They adopted a platform 
which declared for 
" free soil for a free 
people." They main- 
tained that slavery 
was a state institu- 
tion, and as such the 
general government 
had no right to 
meddle with it ; but 
they denied the 
competence of Con- 
gress to permit slav- 
ery in the territories. 
They, too, nomi- 
nated Van Buren. 
The Liberty party 
(p. 420) also held 
a convention, and 

nominated a candidate of its own, John P. Hale of New 
Hampshire ; but he withdrew in favor of Van Buren. The 
election was very close, but the desertion of the New York Election oi 
Democrats caused the electoral vote of that state to be given 
to Taylor and Fillmore, and thus decided the contest in 
favor of the Whigs. 

306. Taylor's Policy, 1849, 1850. — The conflict over 
the Wilmot Proviso and the presidential campaign, in which 
one of the three candidates stood for the limitation of slave 
territory, had at last attracted the attention of the Northern 
people to the cause underlying the politics of the time 




The Liberty 
party. 



William Lloyd Garrison 



Taylor. 



Slavery in 
politics. 



the 



432 



Slavery in the Territories 



[§ 306 



The 
abolitionists. 



Taylor's 

policy. 
Schouler's 
United 
States, V, 
142, 147, 159. 



existence of slavery in the South and of freedom in the 
North. The contest had not merely aroused interest and 
sentiment, it had called forth a dangerous spirit on both 
sides of Mason and Dixon's line. Southern extremists were 
determined to destroy the Union if the principle embodied 
in the Wilmot Proviso became a part of the law of the 
land; Northern extremists were desirous of destroying the 
Union if slavery were not abolished in the slave states, 
— no Wilmot Proviso would satisfy them. The Constitution 
was in the way, it was said. The abolitionists answered that 
the North should withdraw from the detestable bargain, and, 
paraphrasing the words of the Prophet Isaiah, declared that 
"the Constitution is a covenant with death, and an agreement 
with hell." Other Northern extremists were determined that 
the further extension of slavery should cease ; as to slavery 
in the states, they contended that that was a state matter. 
Between these two bodies of extremists stood the mass of the 
people of both sections, who were desirous to put the whole 
matter aside, and proceed with the development of the 
country, leaving the future to take care of itself. Of South- 
ern moderates were men like Clay and Benton, sincere 
lovers of their country and anxious to prevent sectional 
strife. The Northern moderates were also sincere lovers 
of their country. They thought as little about the slave 
question as possible, — if the Southerners wished to ruin the 
South by perpetuating the institution, that was the Southern- 
ers' business; they had no strong moral feelings against 
slavery, and probably disbelieved most of the facts which 
the abolitionists were ever dinning in their ears. 

The new President, Zachary Taylor, was a Louisiana sugar 
planter, the owner of a hundred slaves, and the father-in- 
law of Jefferson Davis, one of the senators from Mississippi. 
Like most Southern men, he came to Washington with the 
preconceived idea that the Northerners were the aggressors ; 
he soon discovered that, with the exception of the small 
body of Northern abolitionists, who exercised no political 
influence at Washington, the aggression was all on the side 



^^49] Taylor s Policy 433 

of the South. Moreover, he speedily fell under the influence 
of William H. Seward of New York, one of the antislavery 
leaders in the Senate. Taylor determined to settle the 
matter in a direct soldierly fashion. He sent agents to 
California and New Mexico urging the settlers in those dis- 
tricts to form state constitutions, and seek admission to 
the Union. California at once complied. When Congress 
assembled in December, 1849, the President announced that 
California asked to be admitted as a free state. The South- 
erners were beside themselves — they felt that the richest 
country, and that portion best suited to slavery of all the 
vast region acquired from Mexico, had been filched from 
them. The matter was further complicated by the fact that 
Texas claimed a large part of New Mexico as rightfully 
belonging to her, and threatened to take possession by force 
if her claims were not allowed. Jealous of his successful 
rival, as some writers have asserted, or, as is more likely, 
fearful lest the passions already aroused would lead to con- 
flict, Clay determined to effect a compromise. 

307. Compromise of 1850. — Clay proposed to settle at Clay's 
one and the same time all the disputes which had grown compromise 
out of the slavery contest. His scheme is always spoken of jgco" ' "^"^ 
as a compromise, and so it was in the ordinary meaning of Schouier's 
the word : but the South gained so much more than the ^'"'^'^,, 

. . . . ^11 states, W, 

North that its adoption was in reality a victory for the slave 161-170, 
power. The only concession to the North was the prohibi- 195-199; 
tion of the slave trade within the District of Columbia. ^^1'^^°^'^,^'^'^ 
California was to y?' /^ ^ ^ ^/* Nos. 78-83. 

be admitted as a *^ '^^^ 
free state. The 
Southerners re- 
garded this as a 
great surrender to 
Northern senti- 
ment ; but it would be difficult to understand how the 
demand of California for admission as a free state could 
have been refused by them in view of the doctrine of " squat- 




434 



Slavery in the Territories 



[§307 



Clay's views 
on the crisis. 
Rhodes's 
United 
States, I, 120; 
Johnston's 
Orations, 11, 
202-218. 



Calhoun's 
demands. 
Rhodes's 
United 
States, 1, 127 ; 
Johnston's 
Orations, II, 
123-160. 



ter sovereignty " which they advocated. The gains to the 
South were (i) the confirmation of slavery in the District 
of Columbia; (2) the organization of Utah and New Mexico 
as ,territories without any mention of slavery — leaving that 
matter to be settled on the theory of squatter sovereignty, in 
accordance with the wishes of the settlers ; (3) the payment 
of a large sum of money to the slave state of Texas to secure 
a relinquishment of her claim to a portion of New Mexico ; 
(4) a resolution by Congress to the effect that that body 
had no power over the interstate slave trade; and (5) the 
passage of a stringent fugitive slave law. Clay realized that 
this so-called compromise was distinctly in favor of the 
South ; but he argued that the dispute as to slavery was a 
matter of sentiment with the Northerners, of interest with 
the Southerners. Sentiment must yield to interest. Clay 
spoke and acted for conservative Southern slave owners. 
He thought that safety lay in a " union of hearts " to be 
brought about by mutual concessions — which meant North- 
ern concessions. Probably he was sincere in his belief as 
to the efficacy of his compromise scheme to prevent dis- 
union and secession. 

Calhoun represented Southern extremists. He had no 
faith in a union of hearts, or any union, except one in which 
the South should forever enjoy equal power with the North, 
no matter what the relative population and resources of the 
two sections might be. " Squatter sovereignty " had no 
meaning to him, and he regarded the action of the Cali- 
fornians as a piece of gross impertinence ; it was necessary 
for the North to concede " to the South an equal right in 
the acquired territory, and to do her duty by causing the 
stipulations , 

relative to fugi- ^ ^ i^ a^^^c^^-^.^.^^.^.^ 
tive slaves to be 

faithfully fulfilled ; to cease the agitation of the slavery ques- 
tion ; and to provide for the insertion of a provision in the 
Constitution by an amendment which will restore to the 
South, in substance, the power she [once] possessed of pro- 



i85o] 



Compromise of 1850 



435 



tecting herself." He did not define a plan to bring about 
this political equilibrium between the two classes of states. 
After his death, it appeared that what he had in mind was 
the repeal of all laws which had established a national gov- 
ernment, and the adoption of an amendment to the Con- 
stitution providing for the election of two presidents, one by 
the slave, the other by the free states, and each to approve 
of all acts of Congress before they became laws. Webster 
expressed the views of many Northern conservatives. He 
approved the compromise plan : slavery was already " ex- 
cluded from the territories by the law of nature, of physical 
geography." Webster spoke on March 7, 1850, and his 
speech is always referred to as the " Seventh of March 
Speech." These opinions were those of the leaders who 
had governed the country since the War of 181 2 ; they all 
died within three years. New men were coming to the front, 
among them William H. Seward, senator from New York. 
He denounced the proposed compromise as in the interests 
of slavery — " all measures which fortify slavery or extend it, 
tend to the consummation of violence, — all that check its 
extension and abate its strength, tend to its peaceful extir- 
pation." Thrusting aside historical subtleties and constitu- 
tional distinctions, he declared that " there is a higher law 
than the Constitution," which he described as " the law of 
nature written on the hearts and consciences of freemen." 

There was a majority in both houses for each of Clay's 
propositions taken by itself; but the voters for and 
against the several parts of the scheme were different. It 
resulted from this that the propositions in bulk failed to pass, 
and also when grouped together in three bills. Meantime, 
Taylor had been managing matters in his own straightfor- 
ward fashion. Had he lived a few months longer, California 
would probably have been admitted without any compro- 
mise. Suddenly, on July 9, 1850, he died, and Fillmore, 
Seward's poHtical rival in New York, became President. 
Webster became Secretary of State, and the compromise 
measures were passed, though not in their original form. 



Webster's 

Seventh 

of March 

Speech. 

Rhodes's 

United 

States, 1, 137; 

Johnston's 

Orations, II, 

161-201. 



Seward's 
assertion. 
Rhodes's 
United 
States, I, 162. 
Stedman anc 
Hutchinson, 
VI, 40; 



The 

Compromise 
of 1850. 



43^ Slavery in the Territories [§ 308 

As finally effected, the Compromise of 1850 provided for 
(i) the admission of California to the Union as a free state, 
(2) the prohibition of the slave trade in the District of 
Columbia, (3) the organization of Utah and New Mexico 
as territories with no restriction as to slavery, (4) the pay- 
ment of ten million dollars to Texas in satisfaction of her 
claims to a portion of New Mexico, and (5) the passage 
of a severe fugitive slave law. 
Southern 308. Fugitive Slaves. — Whatever good results might 

policy. have followed from the Compromise of 18150 without the 

Schouler's . . 

United Fugitive Slave Law were more than offset by the passage 

states, \\ of that measure. There could be no "union of hearts" 
^^'^' in face of it. The passage of the Fugitive Slave Act was 

one of the worst blunders in the long series of errors 
which led to the perpetuation of slavery in the South. 
Every day that slavery existed, the South grew weaker 
morally, materially, and politically. As it was, Southern 
policy clearly demanded that the slave owners should 
avoid every irritating question and should seek to discover 
the best means by which slavery could be checked and 
brought to an end. In place of so doing, they seized every 
occasion to push the further extension of slavery and to 
fasten the institution on themselves and their posterity; 
they lost no opportunity to bring the matter prominently 
before the people of the North, and compel them to think 
about it whether they would or not. The execution of the 
Fugitive Slave Law did more to arouse the moral sentiment 
of the Northerneis than the arguments of the abolitionists 
had done in twenty years. It may be asserted that the 
people of the free: states — whether for freedom or slavery 
in the South or in the territories — were unanimous for free- 
dom on their own soil. Furthermore, the execution of the 
law brought the people of the North face to face with cer- 
tain phases of slavery in whose existence most of them had 
persistently refused to believe. Moreover, there seems to 
have been no adequate reason for the passage of the law. It 
has been stated that only one thirtieth of one per cent of 



x8so] Fugitive Slaves /^T^y 

the slaves escaped in any one year. Some scheme of in- 
surance against slave escapes would have fully protected 
every Southern slave owner at trifling cost. 

The act itself appears to have been drawn with the ex- The Fugitive 
press object of humbling the Northerners. The right to a ^'^^^ ^,'='- 
jury trial was denied to the person designated as a fugitive cr^ite^d ^ 
slave ; the affidavit of the person claiming the negro was states, i, 185. 
sufficient evidence of ownership : the writ of habeas corpus ^""'"^'■■s 

J.J, , . , , , '■ speech on 

was denied to the reclamied negro ; and the act was ex post repeal of this 

facto. The authors of the bill forgot, however, that while a ^^t is in 

jury trial was denied to the negro claimed as a fugitive, ■^^^"/w" n 

neither it nor the writ of habeas corpus was or could be de- 268-340. 
nied to the rescuer of the negro from the clutches of the 
fugitive slave hunter ; nor were any means provided by 
which a state could be punished for placing obstacles in 
the way of the carrying out of the act. 

Agents of the slave owners soon appeared in the Northern Rescues of 

states, and jnore seizures of fugitives occurred in one year fug'"^'es, 

after the passage of the act than in all the sixty years before. schouieVs 

Except in a few cases, it was found to be impossible to secure United 

and retain possession of the runaways. State after state ^^'^^^^' • 

. 204, 294 ; 

passed " personal liberty laws " which practically nullified Rhodess 
the operation of the act. Some of these laws imposed U/i/ted 
heavy fines on state officers who in any way assisted the ^^g^ ^22,' 499, 
pursuers of fugitives ; others prohibited lawyers who pros- 
ecuted in these cases from the practice of their profession ; 
and still others forbade the confinement of fugitives in state 
prisons. The most famous cases of rescue and attempted 
rescue were those of Shadrach, the Christiana riot (1851), 
Burns (1854), the Oberlin-Wellington rescue (1858), and 
the legal struggle which occurred in Wisconsin in 1858-59. 
Perhaps the most dramatic episode was the attempt of 
Thomas Wentworth Higginson and others to rescue An- 
thony Burns ; it failed, but it is said to have cost the gov- 
ernment one hundred thousand dollars to return this one 
fugitive to his master. Another result was a great increase 
in the facility for escape offered to fugitives in the Northern 



438 



Slavery in the Territories 



[§309 



Uncle Tom's 
Cabin. 
Rhodes's 
United 
States, I, 278. 



Election of 

1852. 

Stanwood's 

Electio7is, 

178-19 I ; 

Schouler's 

United 

States, V, 

240-250. 



States. This was popularly known as the " underground rail- 
road," and its activity and efficacy increased enormously. 
Bearing all these things in mind, it is no doubt true, as 
Senator Benton declared, that the act " has been worth but 
little to the slave states in recovering their property." 

309. Election of 1852. — Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe's 
Uncle Toni's Cabin was published in the summer of 1852. Its 

success was un- 
precedented in 
the history of 
American litera- 
ture, and the 
effect produced 
by its publica- 
tion was most 
important and 
far-reaching. It 
has been related 
that just after 
the battle of Bull 
Run Lincoln met 
Mrs. Stowe for 
the first time and 
greeted her as 
"the little woman 
who caused this 
great war." This story may not be true, but it is certain 
that Uncle Tom exercised a tremendous influence in arousing 
pubHc opinion in the North. It is remarkable, however, 
that the Democrats were successful in the election which 
followed immediately on its appearance. 

The Democrats nominated a comparatively unknown man, 
Franklin Pierce of New Hampshire ; the Whigs chose as 
their standard bearer the most successful soldier in the 
country, Winfield Scott. The Free-soilers also had a can- 
didate in the field, but their strength had declined since 
1848. The Democrats were now united, while the attempt 




Harriet Beecher Stowe 
From a contemporary engraving 



1852] 



Election of 18^2 



439 



of the Whigs to avoid expressing an opinion on the slavery 
question had weakened them in the North without increasing 
their strength in the South. The Free-soilers, by attracting 
Whig voters, really aided the Democrats. Ridicule was 
heaped on Scott, who was a man of showy habits, and 
not always happy in the use of language. The real reason 
for the Democratic success, however, was a mistaken feel- 



"M^ 




Election of 1852 



ing that with that party in control of the government, less 
would be heard of the contest over slavery. 

310. The Kansas-Nebraska Act. — For ten years since 
1844, Stephen Arnold Douglas, senator from Illinois, had 
been anxious to secure a territorial organization for the 
region west of Iowa and Missouri. Unless this were done, 
it might become an Indian reservation, which he undoubt- 
edly thought would be a sacrifice. In January, 1854, Douglas 
introduced a bill to provide for the organization, as the terri- 
tory of Nebraska, of all the Louisiana Purchase north of the 



The Kansas- 
Nebraska 
Act, 1854. 
Schouler's 
United 
States, V, 
279-292 ; 
*Rhodes's 
United 
States, \,:s,'2\; 
■Jolinston's 
Orations, 1 1 1, 
50-87. 



440 



Slavery in the Territoriesi 



[§3" 



MacDonald's 
Documents, 
Nos. 85-88. 



Opposition 
to the 
passage of 
the act. 
Rhodes's 
United 
States, I, 441 ; 
Johnston's 
Orations, 
111,3-49- 



liiie of the Missouri Compromise (36° 30' north latitude) , and 
west of the states of Missouri and Iowa. It was proposed 
that this territory should^be admitted to the Union at some 
future time as one state or as several states, " with or without 
slavery as their constitution may prescribe at the time." On 
being reminded that this region had been devoted to freedom 
by the terms of the Missouri Compromise, Douglas asserted 
that that compromise had been superseded and repealed 
by the Compromise of 1850. He maintained that he now 
merely proposed to extend the principle of " popular sov- 
ereignty" to the country north of the line of 1820. He 
was driven to do this by " a proper sense of patriotic duty." 
He repeated Webster's argument that slavery was excluded 
by nature from the proposed territory. Before its passage, 
the bill was changed to provide for the organization of two 
territories : Kansas and Nebraska in place of one, Nebraska, — 
Kansas to include the region between 37° and 40° north lati- 
tude, and Nebraska that between 40° and 49®. Kansas, 
as thus defined, would be situated directly west of the slave 
state of Missouri, and Nebraska of the free state of Iowa. 
Probably this division was made in the expectation that 
Kansas would become a slave and Nebraska a free state. 
TUe bill as finally passed also declared that the Missouri 
Compromise had been suspended and made inoperative 
by the principles of the Compromise of 1850. 

311. Appeal of the Independent Democrats, 1854. — 
Douglas's soothing assurances that the opening of these 
territories to slavery was a matter of no great moment, did 
not commend itself to the antislavery leaders in the Senate. 
Senator Chase of Ohio asserted that the proposed measure 
was " a violation of the plighted faith and solemn compact 
[the Missouri Compromise] which our fathers made, and 
which we, their sons, are bound by every sacred tie of obli- 
gation sacredly to maintain." The old political leaders had 
now passed away ; new men had come to the front : Seward, 
Wade, Hale, but none more outspoken than Charles Sumner 
of Massachusetts. He joyfully welcomed the issue raised 



1 854] 



The Kansas-Nebraska Act 



441 



by the Kansas-Nebraska Bill: "To every man in the land, 
it says with clear penetrating voice, ' Are you for freedom 
or are you for slavery ? ' " 

Some of the leading opponents of the measure summed 
up their objections to it in a document entitled, Appeal 
of the Itidependent Detnocrats. They arraigned the bill " as 
a gross violation of a sacred pledge [the Missouri Compro- 
mise] ; as a criminal betrayal of precious rights ; as part and 




" Appeal 
of the 

Independent 
Democrats." 
American 
History 
Leaflets, 
No. 17. 



Kansas-Nebraska Act, 1854 

parcel of an atrocious plot to exclude from a vast unoccupied 
region immigrants from the Old World, and free laborers 
from our own states, and convert it into a dreary region of 
despotism, inhabited by masters and slaves. 

" Take your maps, fellow-citizens, we entreat you, and see 
what country it is which this bill gratuitously and recklessly 
proposes to open to slavery." As to the statement that the 
Missouri Compromise had been made inoperative by the 
Compromise of 1850, the "Independent Democrats" de- 



442 



Slavery in the Territories 



[§312 



Popular 
sovereignty. 



Wishes of 
the slave 
owners. 



Abraham 
Lincoln. 
Morse's 
Lincoln, 
($. S.). 



clared in a postscript to the " Appeal " that such a statement 
was " a manifest falsification of the truth of history." 

312. Popular Sovereignty. — "Popular sovereignty," or 
"squatter sovereignty," i^ thus defined in the Kansas- 
Nebraska Act : " The true intent and meaning of this act [is] 
not to legislate slavery into any territory or state, nor to ex- 
clude it therefrom, but to leave the people thereof perfectly 
free to form and regulate their domestic institutions in their 
own way, subject only to the Constitution of the United 
States." Apart from the question of the violation of the 
Missouri Compromise, the Kansas- Nebraska Act was fatally 
incomplete in providing no efficient means for the peaceful 
occupation of the territories by free immigrants, or by slave 
owners with their slaves. On the face of it, all that the slave 
owners asked was to be allowed to carry their slaves with 
them ; " in reality," as Senator Benton said, what the slave- 
holder wanted was " to carry the state law along with him to 
protect his slave," or rather his interest in his slave. It was 
necessary, therefore, the moment a slave entered a territory 
to enact a complete code of slave laws to keep him in bond- 
age. It was impossible to permit slave owners and free 
immigrants to live together under a territorial organization, 
and settle the question when the time came to seek admission 
into the Union. 

Douglas's ablest opponent in Illinois was Abraham Lin- 
coln, who had already served one term in Congress, but had 
not been re-elected. While in Congress, he had inade one 
speech which is interesting to note in view of his later career. 
It was in 1847 that Lincoln declared : " Any people anywhere 
have the right to rise up and shake off the existing govern- 
ment, and form a new one that suits them better. . . . Nor 
is this right confined to cases in which the whole people . . . 
may choose to exercise it. Any portion of such people, that 
can, may revolutionize, and make their own of so much of 
the territory as they inhabit." This would appear to bp a 
recognition of the doctrine of " popular sovereignty " in its 
most extended application. But Lincoln now opposed most 



1854] , Popular Sovereignty 443 

warmly the application of it made in the Kansas- Nebraska 
Act : " I admit that the emigrant to Kansas and Nebraska 
is competent to govern himself, but I deny his right to 
govern any other person without that person's consent." 
The act was especially defective in that it contained no 
means of ascertaining the "popular sovereign's" will. 
Bloodshed was inevitable ; " will not the first drop of blood 
so shed be the real knell of the Union? " 

313. Struggle for Kansas, 1855-61. — The slave owners Kansas, 
and their friends at once prepared to take possession of Schouier's 
Kansas, which they appear to have regarded as rightfully ^f^f^^ y 
belonging to them. Bands of " Sons of the South," as they 320-333. 
called themselves, or " Border Ruffians," as the free-state 
settlers soon came to regard them, now crossed the frontier 
of Missouri to seize the government of the new territory, and 
to occupy the best lands until actual settlers should appear 
from the South. The Southern settlers never came in any 
force. The slave owners were well to do and possessed 
freedom of movement to a certain extent. It was easy for 
one of them to take a number of slaves, migrate to a neigh- 
boring slave state, and estabUsh a new plantation like the one 
which he had left behind him. When it came, however, to 
making a long journey to an unknown region whose climate 
might prove injurious or fatal to his blacks, and to engage 
in new forms of agriculture, — to which he and his slaves 
were unaccustomed, — that project was one not to be lightly 
undertaken. It proved, indeed, nearly impossible to induce 
the slave owners to remove. It was of little avail to encour- 
age the emigration of Southern whites, unless a considerable 
body of slaveholders and slaves accompanied them; the 
story of California had shown that Southern whites, mingled 
with a mass of Northern whites, would unhesitatingly vote to 
exclude slavery from their new home. 

Settlers from the free states were confronted by none of Free emigra 
the impediments which beset the slaveholders, but difficulties j>,«"^^o^ 
caused by distance, expense, and opposition of the " Border 
Ruffians " were to be overcome. The hindrances of distance 



444 



Slavery in the Territories 



[§313 



Election in 
Kansas, 

1855- 



The Topeka 
Convention, 
1855- 



Civil war in 
Kansas. 



and expense were surmounted by rich New Englanders, — 
as Amos A. Lawrence, — who formed the New England Emi- 
grant Aid Society. Northern settlers soon thronged to 
Kansas^ but the opposition of the Sons of the South re- 
mained to be vanquished. 

The first territorial election was held in 1855, and the 
Sons of the South carried the elections for the proslavery 
party by the use of fraud and violence. In the town of 
Lawrence, for example, seven hundred and eighty-one votes 
were cast, although there were only three hundred and 
sixty registered voters on the list. The legislature, elected 
in this manner, was entirely under the control of the pro- 
slavery men. It adopted the laws of Missouri in bulk — 
slave code and all — as the laws of the new territory ; it 
went even further, and passed severe laws to punish inter- 
ference with slaves. The free-state settlers then proceeded 
to establish a government of their own ; they held a con- 
vention at Topeka, drew up a constitution, and applied to 
Congress for admission to the Union as a free state (1855). 
A committee of the House of Representatives visited Kan- 
sas. It reported that the elections to the legislature had 
been carried by " organized invasion." The House then 
voted to admit Kansas as a free state under the Topeka 
constitution; but the Senate refused to agree to this, and put 
an end to all hopes of a peaceable solution of the question. 
The conflict in Kansas now assumed the form of open 
war. Slave partisans attacked Lawrence, and burned sev- 
eral buildings. The free-state settlers retahated ; one of 
the latter encounters was the massacre of several Sons of 
the South, at Pottawatomie, by a band led by John Brown. 

(j -^j It is difficult to say which 

c/V^/?7^ ^^^'^i^'Tlx^ party behaved with the most 
intemperance and disregard of the rights of others. At all 
events, it was certain that this apphcation of the doctrine 
of " popular sovereignty " had resulted in civil war. 

In 1857 the free-state settlers obtained control of the 
legislature ; but one of the last acts of the fraudulent 



i8s6] 



TJie Struggle for Kansas 



445 



legislature had been to provide for a constitutional con- Lecompton 
vention to be held at Lecompton. About one third of the Constitution, 
ballots cast for delegates to this convention were fraudulent. 
When the constitution was submitted to the people for rati- 
fication, the question upon which they were really asked to 
vote was whether Kansas should be a state with limited or 
unlimited slavery. This method of defeating the will of the 
" popular sovereign " was more than Douglas could bear ; 
he broke with the administration. An effort was made to 
effect a compromise ; but, on a fair election, the people of 
Kansas refused to compromise by a vote of nearly eleven 
thousand to over two thousand. It was not until 1861 that 
Kansas was admitted to the Union. 

Before 1845, foreign immigration to the United States 
had been on a scale so small as to attract slight atten- 
tion, practically none from the politicians. Some jealousy 
of foreign immigrants had been shown in 1844, but it 
was not until 1852 that opposition to the "foreign ele- 
ment " became the basis of a pohtical organization extend- 
ing over many states. Then was formed the American The Know- 
party, whose idea was that "Americans must rule America." 
At the back of this organization was a secret order whose 
members, when questioned by outsiders as to their prin- states,\\,s'^ 
ciples and methods, professed an entire ignorance ; they 
were hence called " The Know-nothings," and the Ameri- 
can party was more usually called the Know-nothing party. 
In 1854, not long after the passage of the Kansas- 
Nebraska Act, an election was held for members of Con- 
gress. In the House of Representatives, which had passed 
that measure, the Democrats had a majority of over eighty. 
Of the forty-two Northern Democrats who had voted for 
the bii:, only seven were re-elected. The Anti-Nebraska Anti-^ 
men, as the opponents of that measure were called, left the 
Democrati: and Whig parties and joined the Free-soilers 
and the Know-nothings — the Whigs generally joining the 
latter, who showed unexpected strength in 1854, and espe- 
cially in the state elections in 1855. The new Congress 



nothings. 
Rhodes's 
United 



Nebraska 
men. 




Sumner ana l_ongteUow 
From a contemporary print 



UlS 



i856] 



Election of 18^6 



447 



which met in 1S55 contained representatives of all three 
parties and fragments of parties. Gradually, as the contest 
in Kansas grew fiercer, the Anti-Nebraska men began to 
draw together, and, going back to the party organization of 
the earlier time, began to call themselves Republicans. 

Four conventions were held in 1856 to nominate candi- 
dates for the presidency. The Know-nothings, who now 1856.' 



Party 
conventions, 




Election of 1856 

advocated a policy of " do nothing " on the slavery question, 
nominated Millard Fillmore of New York, who, as President, 
had signed the Fugitive Slave Law, and the Whigs nomi- 
nated him also. The Repubhcans, now including in their 
ranks the old Free-soilers, the Northern Anti-Nebraska 
Democrats and Whigs, and such of the abohtionists as were 
willing to exercise their political rights, nominated John C. 
Fremont, an army officer who had been active in the 
seizure of CaUfornia. The Democrats nominated James 
Buchanan of Pennsylvania for President and John C. Breck- 



448 



Slavery in the Territories 



[§314 



Election of 

1856. 

Stanwood's 

Elections, 

192-213 ; 

Schouler's 

United 

States, V, 

349-356. 



The Dred 
Scott case, 
1857. 
Schouler's 

Utiited 
States, V, 
376; 

*Rhodes's 
United 
States, II, 

251; 

Johnston's 
Orations, III, 
154-167 ; 
MacDonald's 
Documents, 
No. 91. 



inridge of Kentucky for Vice-President : they elected their 
candidate, but the Republicans showed most unexpected 
and startling strength : in 1 85 2 the Democrats had carried 
every state, North and South, save four; in 1856 they 
were successful in only four Northern states. The Re- 
publicans won Delaware and every Northern state except 
the four which remained faithful to the Democrats. The 
Free-soilers had cast one hundred and fifty-seven thousand 
votes in 1852 ; the Republicans cast one million three hun- 
dred and fifty thousand votes in 1856, only five hundred 
thousand less than the Democrats. The Whig party and 
the Know-nothings disappeared ; the RepubHcans had no 
following in the South ; and the Democratic party re- 
mained the only political organization which in any way 
united the free North and the slaveholding South. After 
1857, the slaveholders made such excessive demands that 
even the Northern Democrats could no longer accept them ; 
the party spUt in twain, and the division of the country into 
two sections was complete. One of the most important 
steps in this repulsion of Northern party loyalty was the 
action of the Supreme Court in the Dred Scott case. 

314. The Dred Scott Decision, 1857. — Dred Scott, as a 
slave, had been taken by his master to the free state of Illi- 
nois and to that region west of the Mississippi where slavery 
had been " forever forbidden " by the Missouri Compromise. 
Returning with his master to Missouri, he sued for his 
liberty on the ground that residence in the free North had 
made him free. The case finally came before the Supreme 
Court of the United States. The technical question before 
that tribunal was whether the federal courts had jurisdiction 
in the matter. The court, Justices McLean and Curtis dis- 
senting, decided that they had no jurisdiction. This decision 
was based on the ground that neither a slave nor the de- 
scendant of a slave could be a citizen of the United States 
within the meaning of the Constitution and hence enjoy the 
right to appear as a party to a suit in a federal court. The 
Chief Justice, Roger B.Taney, then proceeded to outstep the 



1857] The Dred Scott Decision 



449 



proper function of the court and to settle the question of 
slavery in the territories — which was not before it at all. 
He said that slaves were property within the meaning of the 
Constitution ; that property was guaranteed protection by 
the Constitution ; that Congress could not legislate against 
property, and that, therefore, the Missouri Compromise was 
null and void, inasmuch as it prohibited the carrying of 
property into a certain part of the Union. Into the legal 
aspects of the case it is not necessary to enter here. The 
people of the North understood the court to say that under 
no circumstances whatever could Congress effect a lawful 
compromise on the question of slavery in the territories ; 
they generally refused to regard the opinion of the Supreme 
Court as expressing the true interpretation of the Constitu- 
tion ; it remained to be seen what attitude the Northern 
Democratic leaders would take. 

315. Lincoln and Douglas, 1858. — In 1858 Senator Lincoln and 
Douglas sought a re-election to the Senate of the United ^g°js'^^' 
States; Abraham Lincoln stepped forward to contest the schouier's 
seat, and the campaign which followed was one of the most United 
important in the history of the United States. In his first ^^J^^'^- '^• 
address, Lincoln startled his hearers and dismayed his party 
leaders by the outspoken frankness of his language : " Agi- Lincoln's 
tation [against slavery] has not only not ceased but has '^.^JJJ^J,. 
constantly augmented. In my opinion it will not cease until speech, 1858. 
a crisis shall have been reached and passed. 'A house Rhodes's 
divided against itself cannot stand.' I believe this govern- _^^^^^jj^ 
ment cannot endure permanently half slave and half free. 314. ' 
I do not expect the house to fall, but I expect it will cease l^"^^^^^ 
to be divided. It will become all one thing or all the other. u'^^XiSv. 
Either the opponents of slavery will arrest the further spread 
of if . . . or its advocates will push it forward, till it shall 
become alike lawful in all the states, old as well as new, — 
North as well as South." Lincoln and Douglas held a series 
of joint debates, in the course of which Lincoln compelled 
Douglas to defend tljie doctrine of " popular sovereignty," 
and to assert that a territorial legislature could enact laws 



450 



Slavery in the Territories 



[§316 



Douglas's 

" Freeport 
Doctrine." 
Johnston's 
Orations, 
III, 184-194. 



Seward's 
" irrepres- 
sible con- 
flict " speech, 
1858. 
Rhodes's 
Ujtited 
States, II, 
344; Sted- 
man and 
Hutchinson, 
VI, 46; John- 
ston's Ora- 
tions, 195- 
207. 



John 
Brown's 
raid, 1859. 
Schouler's 
United 
States, V, 

437-441 ; 
Rhodes's 
United 
States, II, 
383- 



hostile to slavery and thus completely nuUifythe Dred Scott 
decision. The Democrats won the state election and the 
state legislature returned Douglas to the Senate ; but the 
admissions that Lincoln had wrung from Douglas made 
the latter's candidature for the presidency distasteful to the 
slaveholders, while Lincoln by his plain speaking had at one 
stroke won a foremost place in the Republican party. His 
" house divided " speech, which had dismayed his friends at 
the time, proved to have been one of the wisest actions of 
one of the wisest of men. 

In the same year Seward made a speech which probably 
had more influence in forming Northern opinion than any 
other speech made before the war. He said, in speaking 
of the struggle between slavery and freedom, " it is an irre- 
pressible conflict between opposing and enduring forces, 
and it means that the United States must and will, sooner 
or later, become either entirely a slaveholding nation or 
entirely a free-labor nation." The slaveholders were de- 
termined that it should become the former. They demanded 
that the opinion of the judges in the Dred Scott decision 
should be respected and, going even farther, peremptorily 
required that Congress should pass laws for the protection 
of slaves as property in their territories. While matters 
were in this state of great tension, John Brown appeared 
at Harper's Ferry to attempt the freedom of slaves. 

316. John Brown's Execution, 1859. — Born in Connecti- 
cut, John Brown had emigrated to Kansas at the beginning 
of the conflict between the forces of freedom and slavery in 
that territory. Self-willed and quick to resent wrong, he had 
engaged in several affairs in Kansas which met with strong 
disapprobation on the part of those foremost in the struggle 
against the extension of slavery. He now formed a scheme 
to free the slaves in the South. He asserted that " twenty 
men in the AUeghanies could break slavery in pieces in two 
years " —precisely how .s not clear. It is clear, however, that 
it was his intention to free the slaves, not to excite a slave 
insurrection — although it is difficult to understand how the 



1859] 



John Browns Execution 



451 



former could be accomplished without bringing on the latter ; 
it is also clear that his project met with strong disapproval 
from many persons to whom he applied for money. On the 
1 6th of October, 1859, he suddenly appeared at Harper's 
Ferry, Virginia, at the confluence of the Potomac and Shen- 




John Brown 



andoah rivers, with nineteen followers. He seized the 
United States arsenal at that place, but allowed a train to 
pass on its way to Washington. He was captured with all His execu- 
but two of his followers, indicted, tried, convicted, and exe- "°°- 

1 • • 1 1 1 Stedmanand 

cuted on a charge of treason and conspiracy with slaves and Hutchinson, 
others to rebel and murder. It is interesting to note how vi, 34. 
differently Brown's raid and execution appeared to different 



452 



Slavery in the Territories 



[§317 



Contem- 
porary 
opinion. 



Helper's 

Impending 

Crisis. 

Rhodes's 

United 

States, II, 

419; Sted- 

man and 

Hutchinson, 

Vni,4ii. 



persons. For example, Emerson wished that we might 
** have health enough . . . not to cry ' madman ' when a 
hero passes," and Longfellow wrote in his journal, " This will 
be a great day in our history ; the date of a new revolution 
quite as much needed as th^old one." To the poHticians 
it assumed quite another phase, and the Republican conven- 
tion held in May, i860, denounced it as " among the gravest 
of crimes." In 1881 Edward Atkinson stated to a Southern 
audience that he expected to see the day when Confederate 
soldiers or their children will erect a monument to John 
Brown " in token of the liberty which he brought to the 
white men of the South." There were not wanting Southern 
men, even at that time, who could discern the evils slavery 
had wrought for them. 

317. Helper's Impending Crisis, 1857. — One of these 
keen-sighted men was Hinton Rowan Helper, a " poor 
white " of North Carolina. In a book entitled The Impend- 
ing Crisis of the South he attacked slavery in the interests 
of the non-slaveholding Southern whites. Abolition, he 
argued, would improve the material position of the South. 
He drew an interesting picture of the rise of thriving manu- 
facturing villages in that section, where the farmers would 
find a market for their produce ; schools also would be 
established, and the poorer children educated as they were 
in the North. As it was, the case of the South was desperate, 
and nothing except abolition could save her. The book at- 
tracted httle attention at first, but in 1859 it suddenly 
increased in circulation. Nothing, not even John Brown's 
raid, did more to arouse the fears of the slaveholding oli- 
garchy. Seven out of every ten voters in the South were 
non-slaveholding whites. Had they been able to read and 
understand the arguments set forth in this book, slavery 
would have been doomed to destruction. When a Southern 
white could assume such a position, it behooved the leaders 
of the slave power to take immediate action. 



«. 



Questions and Topics 453 

SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS AND TOPICS 
§§ 298-301. Texas, Mexico, and Oregon 

Show how the Southern voters enjoyed undue power. 

b. Had you been opposed to the extension of slave territory, how 
would you have voted in 1S44 ? Give your reasons. 

c. What did the word "Oregon" signify in 1845, '847, i860? 
Which country, the United States or Great Britain, had the best claim 
to Oregon in 1846 ? Why ? 

§ 302. The Walker Tariff 

a. Look up the Walker Tariff (Lalor's Cyclopadia), and compare it 

with the present tariff, especially as to taxes on raw materials, on textiles, 
and on luxuries. 

b. To what causes do you attribute the prosperity of the country in 
the years 1846-57? Give your reasons in full. 

c. Show how farming on a large scale was immeasurably promoted 
by the invention of the McCormick reaper. 

§§ 303-308. The Compromise of 1850 

a. Was compromise any more necessary in 1850 than at the time of 
the Whiskey Rebellion or of the Nullification Episode? 

b. Precisely what would have been the effect of the Wilmot Proviso 
had it been passed? 

c. How would you have voted in 1848, and why? If you had been 
a New York Democrat, how would you have voted? 

d. State at length Taylor's and Clay's policy as to slavery extension 
in 1849-50. 

e. Read Webster's " Seventh of March Speech," and explain why 
it aroused feeling against him in the North. 

§ 308. Fugitive Slaves 

a. Explain fully why the Fugitive Slave Law was a blunder on the 
part of the Southerners. 

b. Look up the writ of habeas corpus, or get some lawyer to explain 
it to you. Quote the clause in the Constitution touching it. Why 
could it be denied to the fugitive slave and not to the rescuer? 

§§ 309-314- Elections of 1852 and 1856 
a. Read Mrs. Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin, and explain why it was a 
potent factor in causing the Civil War. 



454 Slavery in the Territories 

b. Trace the genesis of the Republican party from the parties of 
Jackson's time. Is the present Democratic party any more the descend- 
ant of Jefferson's Republican party than is the present Republican 
party ? Give your reasons. 

c. For what candidate would you have voted in 1852 ? In 1856 ? 
Give your reasons. 

§§ 310-316. The Contest over Kansas 

a. Why was the Kansas-Nebraska Act the most momentous measure 
that ever passed the Congress of the United States ? 

b. Read a detailed account of the conflict in Kansas, and state which 
party acted in the more unlawful manner. Give your reasons. 

c. Squatter or Popular Sovereignty: define. Explain the force of 
Senator Benton's assertion in § 312. 

d. Discuss the Kansas-Nebraska Act as to constitutionality, expedi- 
ency, immediate and remote effects on the North, on the South, on the 
Union. 

e. State the principal points of the Dred Scott opinion. State 
Douglas's " Freeport Doctrine." Can you reconcile them ? 

f. Why did Lincoln believe that the Union could not endure "half 
slave and half free " ? Why was the conflict " irrepressible " ? 

General Questions 

a. Make continuous recitations from note-book upon (l) Limited 
Power of Congress, (2) Fugitive Slave Laws, (3) Nullifying Ordinances, 
(4) Mason and Dixon's line, (5) Important Treaties, (6) Secession. 

b. Subjects for reports based on secondary authorities: (i) the 
careers, or portions of them, of Generals Scott and Taylor, Senators 
Seward, Chase, Sumner, and Douglas, Mrs. Stowe ; (2) the Fugitive 
Slave cases, or one of them; (3) the Federal judiciary, 1829-61; 
(4) the weak Presidents and results of their weakness. 

Topics for Investigation by Individual Students 

a. Tabulate the electoral votes of 1844, 1848, 1852, and 1856. 
Arrange the table to show votes by sections ; the North, the South, the 
East, the Northwest (Stanwood's Elections as cited on pp. 420, 430, 
438, 448). 

b. Summarize the argument of (i) Clay, (2) Calhoun, (3) Webster, 
(4) Seward, (5) Chase, (6) Douglas, and (7) Lincoln (Johnston's 
Orations as cited on pp. 434, 435, 437, 440, 441, 448, 449, 450). 

c. Summarize the arguments of the " Independent Democrats " (4411 
second group). 



CHAPTER XII 

SECESSION, 1 860- 1 86 1 

Books for Consultation 

General Readings. — Johnston's American Politics, iSg-igb; WU- 
son's Division and Reunion, 204-216; Morse's Abraham Lincoln; 
Goldwin Smith's United States. 

Special Accounts. — *Rhodes's United States, III, ch. xii (condition 
of the country in i860); Greeley's American Conflict; *Von Hoist's 
Constitutional History; Schouler's United States; '-'Draper's Civil 
War ; Ropes's Story of the Civil IVc.r, I; *Stephens's War betiveen 
the States; Blaine's Twenty Years; *Pollard's Lost Cause; *Taussig's 
Tariff LListory. Lives of leading statesmen, Juide, § 25. 

Sources. — Am-erican History Leaflets; Williams's Statesman's 
Manual; Johnston's American Orations; McPherson's History of 
the Rebellion ; Stedman and Hutchinson's Library of American Liter- 
ature. Writings of the leading statesmen, Guide, §§32, t^t,. 

Maps. — Hart's Epoch Maps, Nos. 8, 13. 

Bibliography. — Channing and Hart, Guide to American History, 
§§ 56 a, 56 b (General Readings), §§ 203-207 (Topics and Refer- 
ences). 

Illustrative Material. — "^Nicclay and Hay, Abraham Lincoln; 
*'Q\ichdin2in's Buchanan's Administration; Garrisons' Garrison; Dab- 
ney's Defence of Virginia; Sherman's Memoirs; Olmsted's Cotton 
Kingdom; A. L. Lowell's Political Essays; Wise's Seven Decades ; Cole- 
man's Crittenden ; Bett's Joseph Henry (M. A.) ; Holmes's Emerson ; 
Helper's Impending Crisis; *Davis's Confederate States. 

Gayarre's "Sugar Plantation" {Harper's Magazine, May, 1887); 
Smede's Memorials of a Southern Planter; Page's The Old South; 
Trent's W. G. Simms. 

SECESSION, 1 860-1861 

318. Introductory. — The year i860 saw the breaking Southern 
down of the policy of compromise which had distinguished P°i'<=y' ^^^ 
the political history of the country since the beginning of the 
Revolutionary War. This change was brought about by a 

455 



45^ Secession [§ 319 

complete alteration in the political attitude of the leaders 
who guided the fortunes of the South. In their opinion, the 
time had come to push their demands — or their rights, as 
they regarded them. It would no longer do for the Union 
merely to tolerate slavery : the federal government must 
actively undertake the extension and protection of it ; the 
Northerners must change their sentiments and declare it to 
be right. Failing this complete surrender on the part of the 
North, the Southern leaders were determined to break up 
the Union and to establish a slave republic in the South. 
Probably they expected little resistance from the people of 
the North ; they certainly had no fears as to the outcome 
of civil war, should it take place. They were laboring under 
some of the most curious delusions which the student of 
history meets in the whole course of his work. To com- 
prehend the history of the next six years, it is necessary to 
understand the material conditions of the country as a whole, 
and those of the two sections respectively. 
Numbers. 319. Population, i860. — The population had increased 

i860, from slightly under thirteen millions in 1830 to over thirty- 

one miUions in i860. The increase had been especially 
rapid since 1850, when the population numbered twenty- 
three millions. A large part of this growth was due directly 
to immigration, which had gathered in volume every decade. 
The total immigration of these thirty years amounted to 
nearly five milUons (4,902,000). Of these newcomers about 
six hundred thousand came in the ten years 1831-40, more 
than seventeen hundred thousand in 1841-50, and over two 
and one half millions in 1851-60; the largest number in 
any one year before the Civil War was four hundred and 
Immigration, twenty-eight thousand in 1854. This ever- widening stream 
1830-60. of immigration was owing largely to causes over which the 

United States had no control. 

The period extending from 1830 to i860 was a time of 
unparalleled distress and disorder in Europe : on the con- 
tinent revolution succeeded revolution, while a terrible 
fan^ne swept off a large portion of the people of Ireland 



1 860] Population 457 

and made it difficult for the survivors longer to live in the 
old home of their race. From all parts of northern and 
western Europe immigrants poured into the United States. 
Great material prosperity and unusual personal liberty drew 
them to the states of the federal union in preference to 
Canada or Mexico or to the Australian or African colonies 
of England. These immigrants brought little with them; 
unskilled labor was their stock in trade ; but this was what 
America needed. These strong men built the cities and 
railroads of the North, and added thousands of acres to 
the fields of corn and wheat in the West. Politically, their 
coming was of the greatest importance : in the crowded cities 
they often interfered sadly with the cause of good government, 
mainly through ignorance ; but as far as national politics was 
concerned, their presence was a positive good. For years 
the United States — the great republic beyond the sea — 
had been to them as a star of hope in the western sky : they 
knew nothing of the states, individually, and for thein states' 
rights had no charm ; the United States was their adopted 
home, and when the time came to show their devotion, they 
responded most heroically. Nor was this matter one of small 
moment: in i860 the foreign-born residents formed over 
thirteen per cent of the total population of the country. 
Unskilled white labor played httle part in the development 
of the South ; the immigrants settled almost entirely in the 
North, and formed nearly one quarter of the population of 
that section. In many parts of the West they were the 
majority of the inhabitants, 

320. Distribution of the Population, Area, etc. — Since Analysis of 
1830, one milhon square miles had been added to. the na- popu'^t'on. 
tional domain. This addition included Texas, Oregon, and 
the territory acquired from Mexico in 1848 and in 1853, 
when forty-five thousand square miles were purchased 
from Mexico — known as the Gadsden Purchase, from the 
name of the negotiator on the part of the United States Area. 
(Map p 428). The total area of the United States was 
now over three miUion square miles, in comparison with two 



458 



Secession 



[§320 



Center of 

population, 

i860. 



millions in 1830 and less than eight hundred and fifty 
thousand in 1783. The settled area had increased even 
more rapidly — from six hundred and thirty thousand 
square miles in 1830 to nearly twelve hundred thousand 
square miles (1,194,754) in i860. 

The center of population moved westward with ever- 
increasing rapidity — one hundred and ninety-one miles 




Density of population, 1860 

in the years 1830-60, in comparison with one hundred 
and twenty-five miles in the preceding thirty years (map, 
p. 296). The western progress of this artificial point during 
the last decade (1850-60) was owing to the rapid settle- 
ment of California and Oregon, and shows how artificial, 
misleading, and inaccurate it is as denoting density of popu- 
lation or national growth: in 1850 twelve persons at San 
Francisco had as much weight in determining this artificial 
point as forty at New York. Nevertheless, until 1850, 
and after 1870, the movement of the center of population 



iii6oj Population 



459 



indicates in a rough way the growth of the population of the 
several sections. Since 1830 nine states had been added 
to the Union, and another, Kansas, was demanding admis- 
sion : of those admitted, Arkansas (1836), Florida (1845), 
and Texas (1846) were slave states ; the other six were free 
states: Michigan (1837), Iowa (1846), Wisconsin (1848), 
Cahfornia (1850), Minnesota (1858), and Oregon (1859). 
It should be noted that the admission of California gave 
the free states a majority in the Senate, which was further 
increased by the admission of Minnesota and Oregon. 

321. Slave and Free Sections compared. — The area of Influence of 
the United States open to slavery was vastly larger than that ^^^^eiy. 
preserved to freedom. Much of the former was still unoc- 
cupied, but the settled area given over to slavery was greater 
than that devoted to freedom. The settled slave region was 
as fertile as any part of the United States. It contained 
enormous stores of coal and iron and possessed vast water 
powers, great forests, and a climate in every way suited 
to all kinds of human occupations. Yet, with these great 
natural advantages, the slave states contained only twelve 
million of the thirty-one million inhabitants of the United 
States. Moreover, as slaves formed fully one third of the 
population of the Southern states, the white population of 
the slave and free states was in the proportion of eight to 
twenty. The effect of slavery in limiting population will 
become apparent by a study of the accompanying map, 
showing the density of population by states. It will be 
seen, for instance, that only two slave states, Maryland and 
Delaware, contained over forty-five inhabitants to the square 
mile, and five states fewer than eighteen to the square mile. 
On the other hand, four free states contained over ninety 
persons to the square mile and three large free states, New 
York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio, between forty-five and 
ninety. Indeed, two Northern cities alone contained more 
people than the state of South Carolina or of Texas, while 
one Northern city held more free whites than any slave 
state. 



460 



Secession 



321 



Northern 
cities. 



Southern 
cities. 



The growth of Northern cities had been wonderful. The 
urban population of the country, as a whole, had increased 
from eight hundred and sixty-four thousand in 1830 to over 
five millions in i860. In 1830 less than seven per cent of 
the population had been gathered into cities; in i860 more 
than sixteen per cent was classed as urban. The opening 
of the commercial route from the Great Lakes to the sea- 
board by the Erie canal and the Hudson River had con- 
tributed greatly to the increase of the population of the 
two cities at the ends of the line, New York and Chicago. 
In 1830 the population of New York numbered less than 
two hundred thousand; by i860 it had increased fourfold, 
and now numbered eight hundred and seven thousand. 
Chicago in 1833 had thirty- three names on the voting list ; 
in i860 more than one hundred thousand persons lived 
within its limits. 

There were many other large cities of from one hundred 
thousand to five hundred thousand inhabitants, — Philadeb 
phia, Brooklyn, Boston, Cincinnati, Buffalo, and Newark. 
There were only three cities south of Mason and Dixon's line 
with over one hundred thousand inhabitants, — Baltimore, 
New Orleans, and St. Louis. Of these, New Orleans alone 
was situated within the limits of the states which seceded. 
In the North, also, there were very many manufacturing 
towns, growing rapidly and increasing in number. In the 
South there were no manufacturing towns and almost no 
commerce. Of the one hundred and seven cotton mills in 
operation, only eight were in the South ; of the thirty thou- 
sand miles of railroad, but ten thousand were in the South. 
To all intents and purposes, the slave states were socially, 
economically, and commercially where they were in 1810. 
" Alone in all the world she [the South] stood, unmoved by 
the * whirl and rush ' of modern civilization," said one 
Southern man. " From the rattle with which the nurse 
tickled the ear of the child to the shroud for the dead," said 
another, " everything that the Southerners used came from 
the North." 



j86o] * Population 461 

322. Transportation. — The first period of railway build- Railway 
ing ended in 1849 \ there were then between six and seven ^g')^^' 
thousand miles of railways in the country. Ohio, Indiana, 
and Illinois were still open fields. Between 1849 and 1858 
there was great activity in railway construction : more than 
twenty-one thousand miles were built in those years. There 
was then a slackening, owing to the panic of 1857, but by 
the outbreak of the Civil War there were thirty thousand 
miles in operation. The maps of the northeastern states 
had begun to take on that gridironed appearance which is 
so familiar to the map reader of the present time. At the 
same time that the railway system was being extended 
existing lines were connected and worked in harmony. In 
1850 one could not go by rail from New York to either 
Boston or Albany, as the journey was broken in places by 
water transport ; in i860 one continuous line of rails stretched 
from New York to the Mississippi. 

The great extension of the railway lines in the newer The land 
states west of the Alleghanies was due largely to the stimulus g'"^"*^- 
which came from congressional grants of lands to the rail- 
roads in that section. This process was begun in 1850 by a 
grant in aid of the Illinois Central. Congress gave to the 
state of Illinois every alternate section of the public lands 
on either side of the proposed railroad, and the state, on its 
part, turned over the land grants to the railroad company in 
consideration of a cash payment and a percentage of the 
gross receipts of the road when built. This policy was 
repeated in the case of other roads, and no less than one 
hundred and eighty milHon acres of the pubhc lands were 
given in aid of the building of railroads, especially in the 
" Old Northwest," but the privilege was sometimes abused 
by dishonest and greedy railroad promoters. 

During the same period water transport, both domestic Steamboati. 
and foreign, greatly increased. There was often the most 
criminal recklessness in the management of steamboats, 
especially on the interior waterways. In 1852, on the motion 
of Senator John Davis of Massachusetts, Congress passed an 



462 



Secession 



[§323 



The 

mercantile 

marine. 



Cause of 

prosperity, 

1840-60. 



excellent act for the regulation of steam traffic on the water 
This law, with some changes suggested by later experience, 
is still in force. 

American maritime industry was at its highest point in 
the decade before the war. In 1861 the tonnage of the 
United States exceeded that of any other nation : no less 
than five and one half million tons of shipping was regis- 
tered under the American flag, in comparison with four and 
one half millions on the British shipping list. In i860 three 
quarters of the exports of the United States were carried in 
American vessels. 

323. Material Prosperity. — Mr. Rhodes, in his interest- 
ing chapter on the condition of the country in i860, asserts 
"no one can doubt that from 1846 to 1857 the country was 
very prosperous." This prosperity was the result of a for- 
tunate combination of many causes, among which may be 
mentioned the rapid settlement of the national domain, the 
great extension of lines of railroad, and the large increase of 
foreign commerce, especially with Great Britain. The first 
two of these have been described in preceding sections ; it 
will be well to consider the last more in detail. The im- 
ports and exports of the United States had trebled in value 
since 1830. The increase in imports was due in part to the 
great demand for manufactured iron in the construction of 
railroads, and to the increased use of other foreign manu- 
factures, owing to the low rates of impost under the Walker 
Tariff. In part, also, it was due to the importation of raw 
materials for the use of American manufacturers. The 
growth of exports was owing largely to the repeal of the 
British corn laws, and the establishment of free trade which 
took place at the same time. The repeal of the corn laws 
permitted the importation of cheap food stuffs into England. 
It greatly diminished the cost of living there, especially 
among the workers, and made it possible for them to accept 
lower wages. The abolition of duties on the raw material 
of manufacture, and the low cost of labor, enabled Eng- 
lish manufacturers to gain control of the markets of the 



i860] ' Prosperity 463 

world. British manufacturing industries were greatly stimu- 
lated, and the demand for raw materials kept pace with the 
increase in manufacturing. The cheap food stuffs and the 
most important raw materials were provided by the United 
States : in i860 one hundred and seventy- three million 
bushels of wheat were grown, of which twenty-five thousand 
were raised west of the Mississippi, and the corn crop of 
that year amounted to over eight hundred million bushels. 
The demand for cotton by British and Northern spinners 
had stimulated the cultivation of that plant ; the South pro- 
duced about seven eighths of all the cotton grown in the 
world ; the crop of 1859 amounted to four million six hun- 
dred thousand bales, the largest crop grown before the war. 
The demand for cotton was constantly outstripping the 
supply; in i860 the consumption exceeded even the large 
crop of that year ; Northern manufacturers used one and 
one half million bales, and four and one half millions more 
were exported, mainly to Great Britain. 

The epoch under review also witnessed a great increase in Manufactur- 
manufacturing enterprises in the United States, which is the '"S mdus- 

tries. 

more notable in view of the fact that these were the years 
when the duties on imported goods were lower than at any 
time since 1824. Furthermore, the period of greatest 
expansion was in the decade 1850 to i860, when the duties 
were at the lowest. A few figures will serve to show the 
extent and character of this growth : the capital employed 
in manufacturing had increased nearly fourfold, the number 
of hands employed had more than doubled, and the value 
of the manufactured product had grown from one thousand 
millions in 1850 to over four thousand millions in i860. In 
this great industrial activity the South had little part : Vir- 
ginia produced fifty and one half miUion dollars' worth of 
manufactured commodities ; no other Southern state pro- 
duced as much. New England still led in cotton manufac- 
turing ; in i860 there were five million spindles in operation 
in the United States, of which over four million were in the 
New England states. The iron industry had also thriven. 



464 



Secession 



[§324 



Inventions. 



The Panic 
of 1857. 
Rhodes's 
United 
States, III, 
38-55. 



and the mines of coal, iron, copper, and gold were beginning 
to yield their wonderful stores ; but the period of expansion 
of the iron and coal industries belongs to the thirty years 
following the outbreak of the Civil War, and will be de- 
scribed in a succeeding chapter (p. 576). 

It has already been noted how unfruitful the American 
mind was before 1800. By 1830 its genius had begun to 
unfold itself, and the thirty years between Jackson's and 
Lincoln's inaugurations were marked by great and wonderful 
inventions. The electric telegraph and the reaper have 
been already mentioned (p. 426). The first locomotives 
built in the United States were framed on English models, 
and the coaches were like those still in use in England. 
Soon, however, new types were developed, better suited to 
American roads and to the needs of American travelers. 
The breech-loading rifle, the harvester, and the sewing ma- 
chine all belong to the decade immediately preceding i860. 
The year 1852 saw the electric fire-alarm system in success- 
ful operation, and in 1853 the first practicable steam fire 
engine made its appearance. In 1858 an electric cable was 
laid under the Atlantic Ocean ; it stopped working, how- 
ever, almost immediately, and the first successful cable was 
opened to business in 1866. By i860 the growth of large 
fortunes had begun : this growth was coeval with the railroad 
and the telegraph, and at the same time poverty had become 
more marked. This was largely due to the poorer character 
of many of the immigrants who came over in these years. 

324. Financial Policy, 1857-61. — It seems to be un- 
fortunately true that commercial successes are always fol- 
lowed by periods of great depression. The outburst of 
activity of Jackson's " reign " was followed by the panic 
of 1837. Similar causes — too much speculation, too rapid 
railroad building, too great locking up of capital in mills and 
factories — brought on a stringency in the money market, 
■which in turn led to a financial crash in 1857. From this 
the country had scarcely recovered when the Civil War broke 
out. Many persons, instead of attributing the financial 



i860] 



Financial Policy 



465 



stringency to its true cause, — the great expansion of com- 
mercial credit, — believed it to be the result of the govern- 
ment's collecting more revenue than it expended. Congress, 
therefore, modified the Walker Tariff by reducing duties to 
a lower point than they had reached since the enactment 
of the tariff of 181 6. This was done in 1857, and for three 
years thereafter the people lived under a lower tariff than 
they had done since the War of 18 12. The period of de- 
pression following the panic of 1857 caused the revenues to 
fall off, and in 1861 Congress again took the tariff in hand. 
A bill was introduced by Senator Morrill of Vermont, and 
passed before the close of Buchanan's term (1861). It 
changed the ad valorem duties of the Walker Tariff to spe- 
cific duties, and generally increased the rates, especially on 
iron, and, in addition, laid a tax on wool imported. In i860 
the income of the general government was fifty-five million 
dollars, and its expenditures ten million more ; the national 
debt at that time was less than sixty-five million dollars. It 
will be interesting to remember tliese figures when we come 
to consider the financial position of the government during 
the war, and, later, in the great period of material develop- 
ment which followed its close. 

325. Mental Activity. — The increasing fertility in inven- 
tion came at a time when the people began to change their 
ideas as to learning and the cultivation of the intellect. 
Popular lecturers, as Wendell Phillips, Henry Ward Beecher, 
and John B. Gough, traveled about the country instructing 
and stimulating thousands of minds through the medium 
of the " lyceum " system of lectures. Emerson, also, was 
listened to from the platform, and read with eagerness. 
Prescott, Bancroft, and Motley were doing their best work, 
and Francis Parkman had begun his study of " the warfare 
of the forest," which has since borne such splendid fruit. 
George Ticknor was bringing the literature of Spain to the 
notice of his countrymen ; Longfellow, Whittier, Lowell, 
Holmes, and Bryant were all writing, Bryant also edited a 
newspaper, and Horace Greeley had founded the New York 



Tariff of 

1857. 

Rhodes's 
United 
States, III, 
41-56. 



Morrill 
Tariff, 1861. 
Rhodes's 
United 
States, III, 
57-59- 



Mental 
activity. 



^ 



'fa^i^^^*--' 





^Cff^^SA^'U.uff^ 



^'^-A^.< 




American historians 
466 



i86o] 



Election of i860 



467 



Tribune, which for a long time exercised a remarkable 
influence upon the public mind. George William Curtis had 
begun his career as an essayist, and Hawthorne and Mrs. 
Stowe were at work creating an American literature of 
fiction. 

With this mental awakening had come a distinct improve- 
ment in private morals, and a remarkable diminution in 
habits of drunkenness among the people of the North. On 
the other hand, physical exercise for the purpose of build- 
ing up the body does not appear to have been at all appre- 
ciated, and the bodily health of the Northern people was 
never at a lower ebb than in i860. In the South, life was 
fi-eer, and there was more outdoor exercise ; but the food 
of the Southern people was even more unwholesome than 
was that of the Northerners. Moreover, apart from politics, 
there was a complete mental stagnation at the South. 

326. Election of i860. — Up to this time the Democratic 
party had remained united — at least outwardly. Now, 
however, the demands put forth by the slave power were 
more than Northern Democrats could endure. The Demo- 
cratic National Convention met at Charleston, South Caro- 
lina, in April, i860. The Northern Democrats, with Douglas 
for their candidate, were willing to accept the Dred Scott 
opinion, and any decision which the Supreme Court might 
make as to slavery. The Southerners demanded that the con- 
vention should lay down as one of the principles of the party 
that Congress should assume the protection of slavery in 
the territories ; they also declared that the Northerners must 
advocate slavery and acknowledge that slavery was morally 
right — nothing else would satisfy the South. The Northern 
delegates were in the majority ; they adopted the Douglas 
platform and the Southern men withdrew. The convention 
then adjourned to Baltimore in the hope that time would 
bring about a reconciliation. In the end, the Northern 
Democrats nominated Douglas, and the Southern Demo- 
crats Breckinridge. 

The moderate men of all parties and the remnants 



Election of 

i860. 

Schouler's 

United' 

States, V, 

454-469 ; 

Stanwood's 

Elections, 

214-235- 



Split in the 

Democratic 

party. 

Rhodes's 

United 

States, II, 

440. 




^^fy^ltUm/CIdUs/f^^f^**^ 




^iUt^ '^a^^.M/^^ 




CUu^^:^,$^^^£:^ 





American poets 

For portrait of Longfellow see p. 446 

468 



i86o] 



Election of i860 



469 



of the Know-nothings held a convention, and nominated 
Governor John Bell of Tennessee for President, as the candi- 
date of what they termed the Constitutional Union party. 

The Republicans held their convention at Chicago in 
May, i860, and adopted a studiously moderate platform. 
They denied any intention to interfere with slavery in the 
states, which in their opinion was a matter for the voters of 



Consti- 
tutional 
Union party. 




Election of 1860 



each state to settle for themselves whenever and as often as 
they pleased. They demanded, however, that Congress 
should prohibit slavery in the territories — for them the 
Dred Scott decision had no vahdity. They also declared in 
favor of the protective system and internal improvements 
at the charge of the general government. ^ . . 

The selection of a candidate for the presidency proved to of Lincoln. 
be difficult. Seward and Chase were the most prominent Rhodes's 
leaders in the party; but they had been "too conspicuous," ^^.^^^^^ jj 
and Seward was regarded as a visionary. Lincoln was com- 456. 



470 



Secession 



[8326 



Election of 

Lincoln, 

i860. 



paratively unknown ; he had few enemies, and was strong 
in the doubtful Western states which had been carried by the 
Democrats in 1856. His "availability," to use a modern 
political term, commended him to the delegates ; but his 
nomination was hastened by the transfer to him of the 
votes of fifty delegates who were pledged to Cameron 
of Pennsylvania. This transfer was made in consequence of 
a promise given by Lincoln's friends that Cameron should 
have a cabinet position ; it should, however, be said that 

this was in oppo- 
sition to Lincoln's 
express direction. 
His nomination 
was received with 
some indignation 
by the abolition- 
ists. " Who is this 
huckster in poli- 
tics," demanded 
Wendell Phillips, 
who declared that 
Lincoln was " the 
slave-hound of Illi- 
nois." The Garri- 
sons, in the biog- 
raphy of their 
father, have declared that " to the country at large he [Lin- 
coln] was an obscure, not to say an unknown man." It is 
certain that few persons then realized the grandeur of 
Lincoln's character, his splendid common sense, and his 
marvelous insight into the real nature of things. 

The dissensions in the Democratic party, in combination 
with the growing sentiment in the North against the further 
extension of slavery, resulted in the election of Lincoln by 
an overwhelming majority of electoral votes. He polled 
fewer votes in the country at large, however, than his rivals, 
and his plurality in several Northern states was very small. 




Wendell Phillips 



i86o] 



Election of i860 



471 



327. Secession Threatened, November, i860. — Alone of 
all the states, South Carolina adhered to the undemocratic 
practice of choosing presidential electors by vote of the legis- 
lature, instead of by popular vote, as in every other state. 
The South Carolina legislature assembled to perform this duty, 
chose electors pledged to Breckinridge, and remained in 
session until the result of the election was assured. When 
it became certain that Lincoln was elected, it passed meas- 
ures for the military defense of the state, and summoned a 
state convention to meet on December 17 (i860). To 
this latter action, it was urged by the governor, who had 
ascertained that other Southern states would probably co- 
operate with South Carolina in whatever steps it was deemed 
advisable to take. 

The legislature of Georgia assembled on November 8, 
In that state there was a good deal of opposition to the 
plans of the Southern leaders. Alexander H. Stephens, one 
of the foremost men in the South and long one of Georgia's 
representatives in the Federal Congress, made a strong 
speech in opposition, from which a few sentences are here 
given : " The election of no man, constitutionally chosen to 
the presidency, is sufficient cause for any state to separate 
from the Union. Let the fanatics of the North break the 
Constitution ... let not the South, let not us, be the ones 
to commit the aggression." Nevertheless the Georgia legis- 
lature followed South CaroHna's example and summoned a 
state convention, as did the legislatures of several other 
Southern states. 

328. Compromise Suggestions. — Congress met on Decem- 
ber 8, i860, and listened to the reading of Buchanan's last 
message. The President appeared to think that the move- 
ments in the South looking towards secession were partly 
justified by the antislavery agitation in the North — appar- 
ently there was something sacred in slavery which placed 
it on a different ground from a rotten civil service or a 
protective tariff. The " personal liberty laws " were also 
mentioned as justifying the attitude of the South. Bucha- 



Threats o{ 
secession. 
Schouler's 
United 
States, V, 

469; 

Rhodes's 
United 
States, III, 
11=5- 



Buchanan's 

message, 

i860. 

Schouler's 

United 

States, V, 

471; 

Rhodes's 
United 
States, III, 

125- 



472 



Secession 



[§329 



Crittenden 

Compromise 

scheme, 

i860. 

Schouler's 

United 

States, V, 

504: 



nan did not believe with the Southern Democrats that 
secession was a legal right ; on the contrary, he deemed 
it illegal. He thought, however, that there was no con- 
stitutional means whereby the secession of a state could 
be prevented. A state could not be coerced. It does not 
seem to have occurred to Buchanan that the Constitution 
had been expressly constructed to afford the general govern- 
ment the power to coerce individual men who interrupted 

the due execution of the 
federal laws. Later on, 
under the stress of war, 
the Northern Democrats 
invented a convenient 
doctrine that a Northern 
" sovereign state," as 
Pennsylvania, might wage 
war on a Southern " sov- 
ereign state," as South 
Carolina, through the 
agency of the general 
government. In his mes- 
sage, the President also 
suggested the adoption 
of amendments to the 
Constitution securing slav- 
ery in the states where it existed and in the territories, and 
compelling the release of fugitive slaves. Buchanan was a 
Northern man, a Pennsylvanian ; but he had been long under 
the influence of Southern leaders and seems at this time 
to have fallen in completely with their schemes. 

329. The Crittenden Compromise. — Another and more 
promising attempt to arrange matters yvas proposed by 
Senator John J. Crittenden of Kentucky. He suggested 
that amendments to the Constitution should be adopted : 
(i) to secure the fulfillment of the Missouri Compromise; 
(2) to provide that states should be slave or free as their 
constitutions should dictate ; and (3) to make it the duty 




James Buchanan 



i86o] Secession of Seven States 473 

of Congress to secure the return of fugitive slaves to their *Rhodes's 
masters or pay the value of the fugitive to the claimant. iJ^^ted 
Mr. Rhodes thinks that this scheme might have furnished ■^co"^ h ' 
the basis for a compromise, but other writers hardly agree ston's Ora- 
with him. The plan was finally rejected on March 2, 1861, ^'^°"'^- ^^^' 
two days before Lincoln's inauguration. 

330. Secession of Seven States, 1860-61. — On the day Secession of 
(December 17, i860) that Senator Crittenden brought for- the cotton 
ward this conciliatory proposition, the South Carolina con- ^'^T^^\ 
vention met at Charleston. "Commissioners" and leading Schouier's 
men from other Southern states were present to urge haste, United 
but there was at least one memorial urging delay; it was "gs-^^'a' 
suppressed. Three days later the convention adopted Rhodes's 
unanimously an " ordinance to dissolve the Union between Umted 
the state of South Carolina and other states united with her 105 
under the compact entided * The Constitution of the United 
States of America.' " It also adopted a " Declaration of the 
immediate causes which induce and justify the secession of 
South Carolina from the Federal Union." Before March, 
1861, six other states had joined her : Mississippi (January 9, 
1 861), Florida (January 10), Alabama (January 11), 
Georgia (January 19), Louisiana (January 26), and Texas 
(February i). 

Nothing shows more clearly the stagnation of Southern 
constitutional life than the action of these conventions. 
They proceeded precisely on the lines of the conven- 
tions of the Revolutionary epoch. The democratic spirit 
of the nineteenth century, which had so profoundly influ- 
enced political action in the North, had not produced the 
least effect in the South. Only one of these ordinances of 
secession was submitted to the people for ratification, and 
that one (Texas) only because the election of delegates to 
her state convention had been so irregular that it could 
not well be avoided. The conventions which had been 
elected to consider this question exercised the power of the 
people of the states which had chosen them, and did many 
things which probably the majority of the voters had no 



474 



Secession 



[§ 330 



Confederate 
States' 

Constitution, 
1861. 



thought of authorizing. Spurred on by the poUtical chiefs, 
the conventions elected delegates to a "constitutional con- 
vention," which met at Montgomery, Alabama, February 4, 
1 86 1. This convention adopted a provisional constitution 
for the " Confederate States of America," whose principal 
business was " to recognize and protect . . . the institution 
of slavery as it now exists in the Confederate States." 
The convention also chose Jefferson Davis provisional 




The United States, 1861 



Jefferson 
Davis. 



president and Alexander H. Stephens provisional vice- 
president of the Confederacy. Davis had no fear of war, but 
" if war must come, it must be on Northern and not on South- 
ern soil," he said ; " we will carry war where it is easy to 
advance, where food for the sword and torch awaits our 
armies in the densely populated pities." On his return to 
Savannah, Stephens addressed his state compatriots in lan- 
guage whose strange sound shows how completely the South 
was out of sympathy with modern civilization. The new 



i86i] Cause of Secession 475 

government's " foundations are laid, its corner stone rests a. h. 
upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white Stephens. 
man: that slavery, subordination to the natural race, is his J*^/"^" ^""^ 

' -I ' ! riutcninson, 

natural and normal condition. This our new government is vi 1,162; 

the first in the history of the world based upon this great Johnston's 

physical, philosophical, and moral truth." 3Q-i;o 

331. The Underlying Cause of Secession. — A student 

who knows nothing from personal experience of the passions Measure 

and humors of that time finds it difficult to understand why °^*^^ 

Lincoln's election to the presidency should have impelled the trhfmph'^^'^ 

Southerners to stake their prosperity and their institutions on Johnston's 

the uncertain issue of civil war. Lincoln had rained a large P/'^''"^"' 

^ '^ 111,211. 

majority in the electoral college, — one hundred and eighty 
votes to one hundred and twenty-three for the other three 
candidates combined. His opponents, however, had re- 
ceived nearly one million more votes than he had obtained. 
The Republicans would be in a minority in the new House 
of Representatives, and the Senate would be hostile to 
them. No possible immediate danger threatened South- 
ern institutions : the Republicans could not have legislated 
against slavery, had they so desired. It is extremely probable 
that, had the South remained in the Union, it would have 
taken years to bring about abolition. The levying of war 
by the seceded states, and the departure of their represen- 
tatives and senators from Congress, changed the whole 
course of affairs, as will appear in a moment. 

The leaders of opinion in the South thought they saw in Fears of 
the aroused moral sentiment of the North immediate danger Southern 
to Southern institutions. For years they had held the chief 
power in the national councils ; in the future they would 
have to take the second place. It is also reasonably certain 
that they felt the sting of the moral reproach under which 
they were living, and they must have realized that in the 
nature of things slavery was doomed to extinction at some 
future time, though when and by what means it would be 
brought about, no one could say in i860. 

The mass of the Southern voters, who elected the seces- 



476 



Secession 



[§ 332 



Rhodes's 
United 
States, I, 345. 



Southern 
blunders. 



sion conventions and agreed to secession, had no thought 
of permanent separation from the Union when they cast 
their ballots. They expected to make better terms for 
themselves out of the Union than could be gained while 
members of it. Stephens says that it was this argument 
which brought about the defeat of the Southern moderates 
in i860. The step of secession once authorized, the further 
step of Southern confederation was taken without again ob- 
taining the sense of the voters. It must be admitted, how- 
ever, that after the conflict was once begun, the Southerners 
were practically unanimous for its prosecution. No doubt 
it is true that only three voters in ten were slaveholders, 
and that only two million whites were supported directly by 
the forced labor of negroes, but the slaveholders were the 
leaders of public opinion. They were distinctly in a minor- 
ity, but the majority followed blindly whither they led. 

332, Southern Blunders. — The slaveholders were in a 
minority in the South, the Southerners were in a minority 
in the country as a whole, and the South — economically 
and physically — was hopelessly inferior to the North. Not- 
withstanding this, the Southern chiefs seem never to have 
looked the facts squarely in the face and asked themselves 
what the cost of failure would be. Perhaps they never 
deemed failure possible : the Northerners had often yielded 
to their furious attacks; why should they resist now? 
Prudent leaders in these circumstances would have done 
nothing to increase the fighting strength of their opponents ; 
the Southerners did their best to augment it. They formed 
a new government and waged war on the Union. The 
withdrawal of their representatives and senators made the 
Republicans supreme in Congress and gave the President 
the support of the legislative branch. Their attack on 
the Union soldiers at once brought the President's " war 
powers" (p. 246) into operation, and aroused hostile senti- 
ment in the North as nothing else would have done. 

In time of peace the President's functions are limited ; 
in time cf insurrection and civil war it is difficult to dis- 



i86i] Southern Blunders 477 

cem a limit to his authority — except the approval of the The Presi- 
mass of the nation. He is obliged to see to it that "the dent's "war 
laws are faithfully executed " ; he is the commander in chief 
of the land and naval forces of the United States, and there 
is no limit to his use of this power. In time of war, too, 
civil institutions give way to military authority. " So far 
from it being true," said ex-President Adams in 1842, " that 
the states where slavery exists have the exclusive manage- 
ment of the subject, not only the President of the United 
States, but the commander of the army has power to order 
the universal emancipation." Six years earlier Adams had 
distinctly warned the slave owners of their danger : " From 
the instant that your slaveholding states become the theater 
of war," he said, " from that instant the war powers of the 
Constitution extend to interference with the institution of 
slavery in every way." Until i860 the contest between 
slavery and freedom had been fought out in the halls of 
Congress, where the compromises of the Constitution pro- 
tected the slaveholders at every turn ; the conflict was now 
transferred to the field of battle, where the weaker com- 
batant would have no protection whatever. 

333. Apathy of the Northerners. — As soon as secession Apathy 
and confederation were accomplished, the Southerners set to °^ '^^ 
work to possess themselves of the federal property in the Morgg-g i^i,l 
South : they seized arsenals and forts without resistance ; coin, 1, 190. 
the administration remained passive or only uttered mild 
and unheeded protests. In this Buchanan and nis ad- 
visers but echoed the general feeling in the North. " Let 
the erring sisters depart in peace " was heard on every side. 
On February 23, 1861, Horace Greeley wrote in the New 
York Tribune that if the cotton states " choose to form an 
independent nation, they have a clear moral right so to do," 
and very many Republican journals agreed with him. Even 
as late as April 9 Wendell PhiUips said from the lecture 
platform : the Southern states " think that their peculiar in- 
stitutions require that they should have a separate govern- 
ment. They have a right to decide that question without 



478 



Secession 



[§333 



Albany 
conference. 



The " War 
Governors." 
Andrew's 
Message of 
January, 
1861, is 
in Old South 
Leaflets, II, 
No. 8. 



appealing to you or me. . . . Abraham Lincoln has no 
right to a soldier in Fort Sumter." For a long time Gen- 
eral Dix's famous telegram, " If any one attempts to haul 
down the American flag, shoot him on the spot," remained 
the only indication of a fighting spirit in leading circles of 
the government. 

While the tide of secession was at its height in the South, 
a convention met at Albany. It was composed of conserva- 
tive men of all shades of political opinion, and was in the 
hands of those who believed coercion to be revolutionary. 
Later, in February, a peace conference was held at Wash- 
ington. It urged on Congress the adoption of the Critten- 
den Compromise or of some similar plan. The march of 
events was too rapid for compromise ; the Southerners re- 
lied too implicitly on their own enthusiasm and on the lack 
of spirit displayed by the men of the North. 

During this time of hesitation, the Republican current 
was still running strongly in the North. In January, 1861, 
many Republican governors were sworn into office — some 
of whom continued to occupy their positions during the 
conflict, or the greater part of it ; they are known 
familiarly as the " war governors." To them the country 
owes the greatest debt. Recognizing the gravity of the 
crisis, some of them energetically set to work to prepare 
their states for war. For example, Andrew and Buckingham 
ordered large quantities of arms and military equipments. 
When the decisive moment came, they were able to send 
their state troops to the front within a day or two of the fall 
of Fort Sumter. 



SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS AND TOPICS 

As preparation for this chapter, trace the constitutional, economic, 
and social development of the nation by making continuous summary 
of portions of text underlined with identical colors; make continuous 
recitations from note-book on Slavery, Particularism, and Nationalism ; 
review the Three Compromises of the Constitution, and trace the 
results of each from 1789 to 1861. 



Questions and Topics 479 

§§ 319-326. The United States in i860 

a. Trace the history of the policy of compromise which had 
marked the poHtical history of the country since 1775. What was 
the effect upon the slave owners; upon the self-respect of the North- 
erners; upon national spirit? Which group — the Northerners, the 
Southerners, or the slave owners — do you respect the most? Is there 
any group of people during this time which wholly commands your 
respect? Give reasons for answer to each part of this question. 

b. Explain fully how immigration aided in the preservation of the 
Union. 

c. Study the maps showing density of population, and arrange the 
population of the several sections by states. What states and cities 
are referred to in the last lines of the first paragraph of p. 485? Make 
other similar comparisons. 

d. Explain fully the effect of the grants of public lands upon rail- 
road development. 

e. Trace the history of cotton raising from 1784 to 1890. What 
was the largest crop of cotton raised by slave labor; by free labor? 

f. Study the lives of the men whose names are given in § 326. 

§ 327. Election of i860 

a. Precisely what was the cause of the split in the Democratic 
party ? 

b. Why was Lincoln nominated ? Had you been a member of the 
Chicago Convention, how would you have voted? 

c. Bring to class a digest of the Republican platform of i860, and 
discuss its principal features. 

§§ 328-332. Secession 

a. Was the South wholly wrong in the struggle which culminated 
in secession? Upon the basis of a strict construction of the Consti- 
tution, did the South demand more than the Constitution justified? 
Prove your statements. 

b. Summarize the compromise efforts of 1860-61. If you had 
been in the Senate in 1861, how would you have voted on the Crit- 
tenden Compromise, and why? 

c. Secession: describe carefully the course of South Carolina; did 
all the cotton states actually secede? Explain carefully the difference 
of interests between the cotton states and the border states. 

§§ 333> 334- The North and the South 

a. Look up and describe the President's " war powers." 

b. How do you account for the apathy of the Northerners in the 



480 Secession 

winter of 1860-61? Explain conditions in the South which made it 
possible for a small minority of slave owners to dominate public 
opinion. 

c. Upon what grounds could Phillips base his assertion that 
"Lincoln has no right to a soldier in Fort Sumter"? 

Historical Geography 

Represent in colors upon an Outline Map: (i) free soil, (2) slave 
soil, (3) states which cast their vote for Douglas or for Bell, (4) states 
which seceded before April, 1861, (5) states which seceded after that 
time. 

General Questions 

a. Represent upon a chart the origin and history of political parties 
from 1824 to i860. 

b. What entries under headings already in note-book must you 
make? What new headings does this chapter suggest? 

Topics for Investigation by Individual Students 
(See note under this head on p. 48.) 

a. Tabulate the electoral vote of i860, and compare it with that of 
1856 and of 1896. 

b. Summarize Senator Crittenden's argument (473, last reference of 
first group). 

c. Compare Buchanan's and Andrew's messages (478, last refer- 
ence). 



CHAPTER XIII 

THE CIVIL WAR, 1861-1865 
Books for Consultation 

General Readings. — Dodge's Bird's-Eye View of our Civil War 
(should be read by all students.) ; Wilson's Division and Reunion, 
216-252; Johnston's American Politics, 197-206. 

Special Accounts. — Ropes's Story of the Civil War ; Rhodes's 
United States ; Morse's Zzwc^/w (S. S.) ; *Stephens's War betzveen the 
States; *Davis's Confederate States; Battles and Leaders of the Civil 
War ; Swinton's Twelve Decisive Battles ; Boynton's The Navy dur- 
ing the Rebellion; *Greeley's American Conflict; 'Ma.ha.n's Tarragut. 
Biographies of the leading statesmen and generals, Guide, § 25. 

Sources. — American History Leaflets; Old South Leaflets; John- 
ston's American Orations; Nicolay and Hay, Abraham Lincoln; 
McPherson's Lfistory of the Rebellion; Grant's Memoirs; Sherman's 
Memoirs ; Moore's Rebellion Record. Writings of the leading states- 
men and generals, Guide., §§ 32, 33. 

Maps. — Dodge's Bird's- Eye View. 

Bibliography. — Channing and Hart, Guide to American LListory, 
§§ 56^) 56 b (General Readings), §§ 208-214 (Topics and Refer- 
ences). 

Illustrative Material. — -Scribner's Campaigns of the Civil War; 
Herndon's Lincoln; Thurlow Weed's Autobiography; McCulloch's 
Men and Measures; Greeley's Recollections ; The Sherman Letters ; 
Eggleston's A Rebel's Recollections; Jones's A Rebel War Clerk's 
Diary ; Harper's Pictorial Llistory ; Garrisons' Garrison, Lowell's 
Commemoration Ode, Biglow Papers, Second Series, and Political 
Essays; Whittier's Anti-slavery Poems. Barbara Erietchie, etc.; 
Moore's Songs and Ballads of the Southern People; Roe's An Orig- 
inal Belle and other stories; Coffin's Winning his Way; Harris's 
On the Plantation ; Page's Among the Camps; Mitchell's /« War 
Time and Roland Blake ; Soley's Sailor Boys of '61 ; Stedman's 
Occasional Poems ; Cable's Strange True Stories of Louisiana ; 
Cooke's Llilt to Hilt and other stories ; Trowbridge's Drummer Boy 
and other stories; Hapgood's Abraham Lincoln. 

481 



482 



The Civil War 



L§ 334 



Abraham 

Lincoln. 

Morse's 

Lincoln 

(S. S.) I 

Rhodes's 

United 

States, II, 

308. 



Lincoln's 
first inaugu- 
ral, 1861. 
Afnerican 
History 
Leaflets, 
No. 18 ; 
Johnston's 
Orations, 
IV, 16-31. 



THE CIVIL WAR, 1861-1865 

334. Lincoln's Policy, 1861. — Abraham Lincoln admi- 
rably represented that which was best in American life. 
Under every disadvantage of birth and breeding, he raised 
himself by his own exertions to the level of the best statesmen 
of the day. His sincerity, his- straightforwardness, his keen 
perception of right and wrongs were all enforced by a sense 
of humor and a kindliness of bearing that endeared him to 
all with whom he came in contact. 

On the fourth day of March, 1861, Lincoln entered upon 
the discharge of his duties as chief magistrate of the United 
States. In his inaugural address he stated the broad lines 
of the policy he intended to pursue. He began by declaring 
that he had " no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere 
with the institution of slavery in the states where it exists. , . . 
I have no inclination to do so." He held that in contem- 
plation of universal law and of the Constitution, the Union of 
these states is perpetual, and he maintained that " the Union 
is much older than the Constitution." It followed from these 
premises, only partly set forth above, " that no state upon its 
own mere motion can lawfully get out of the Union ; that 
resolves and ordinances to that effect are legally void. 
■ " I therefore consider that, in view of the Constitution and 
the laws, the Union is unbroken ; and to the extent of my 
ability I shall take care, as the Constitution itself expressly 
enjoins upon me, that the laws of the Union be faithfully 
executed in all the states. ... In doing this there needs 
be no bloodshed or violence ; and there shall be none, unless 
it be enforced upon the national authority." Lincoln be- 
lieved that if the laws were enforced in the South wherever 
they could be executed without resort to arms, and if the 
mail service were regularly carried on, the Southern people 
would gradually come to their senses and repeal the ordi- 
nances of secession. At all events, he was determined that, 
while there should be no more trifling with the idea of 



iS6i3 Lincoln s Policy 483 

state sovereignty, the Southerners should be the aggressors 
if there must be aggression. He stated further, after a con- 
sideration of secession from the constitutional standpoint, 
that he understood a proposed amendment to the Constitu- 
tion had passed Congress "to the effect that the Federal 
Government shall never interfere with the domestic institu- 
tions of the states, including that of persons held to service." 
As to such an amendment he declared that he had " no 
objection to its being made 'express and irrevocable. . . . 
In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow-countrymen, and not 
in inine, is the momentous issue of civil war. The govern- 
ment will not assail you. You can have no conflict without 
being yourselves the aggressors. You have no oath regis- 
tered in heaven to destroy the government, while I shall have 
the most solemn one to preserve, protect, and defend it." 

335. Lincoln's Advisers. — The new President gathered Lincoln's 
about him an able set of advisers. His three rivals for the *=^t)'"st' 
Republican nomination, Seward, Chase, and Cameron, be- 
came the heads of the State Department, the Treasury, and 
the War Department respectively. Seward maintained his 
place during the war ; but Chase was later appointed "Chief 
Justice, and Cameron was displaced at the War Depart- 
ment in 1862 by Edwin M. Stanton, who continued to 
exercise the office of Secretary of War until after the close 
of the conflict. Gideon Welles of Connecticut was made 
Secretary of the Navy, and was ably seconded by Gusta- 
vus Vasa Fox, the Assistant Secretary. 

At the beginning of his administration, Lincoln was still Lincoln and 
unfamiliar to those about him. Seward, Chase, and Cam- Seward, 
eron had long occupied leading positions at Washington, and 
no doubt felt somewhat uneasy in the position of advisers to 
their successful rival. -Seward, at all events, regarded him- 
self as the real head of the government, and proceeded to 
instruct Lincoln as to the policy to be pursued by the ad- 
ministration. The Secretary of State sketched out a bold 
plan of foreign aggression, quite unmindful of the moral 
obligations of the nation. In this way he hoped to reunite the 



484 



The Civil War 



[§336 



Fall of Fort 

Sumter, 

April, 1861. 

Battles and 

Leaders, 

1,40,83; 

Rhodes's 

United 

States, III, 

357. 



Lincoln's 
Proclama- 
tion. 



two sections of the Union by thrusting the slavery dispute 
to one side. He also conferred with several Southerners 
who styled themselves " Commissioners from the Govern- 
ment of the Confederate States." Lincoln quietly set 
Seward in his proper place, and did it in a manner that 
showed his own capacity to manage affairs and his ability to 
handle men. During the whole course of the conflict, 
Lincoln exercised personally the great powers conferred on 
him — although he always asked the advice of the cabinet 
on important matters. 

336. Uprising of the People, April, 1 861 . — When Lin- 
coln assumed charge of the government, only three or four 
military posts in the seceded states remained in federal 
hands. The most important were Fort Pickens, on the 
Florida coast, and Fort Sumter, in Charleston harbor. An 
attempt was made to reinforce the garrison of the former, 
but the officer in command of the vessel containing the sol- 
diers refused to land them. To hold Fort Sumter in the 
face of the gathering opposition to the federal government 
was plainly impossible. The administration, however, deter- 
mined to supply the garrison with provisions, and notified 
the governor of South Carolina of its intention. On April 
12 the Southern guns opened on the fort, which surren- 
dered April 14. Not a man had been injured, but the 
little garrison had been overcome by hunger and hard- 
ships. Great was the rejoicing at Charleston ; at last the flag 
of the United States had been " humbled before the glorious 
little state of South Carolina," said the governor of that 
state. 

The next day, April 15, 1861, President Lincoln issued 
a proclamation calling for seventy-five thousand volunteers. 
The document was most admirably written, as were all of 
Lincoln's state papers, and contains the best statement of 
the points in dispute from a Northern standpoint. 

"The laws of the United States," said the President, 
" have been for some time past, and now are opposed, and 
the execution thereof obstructed, in the states of South 



I86i3 



Uprising of the People 



485 



Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, 
and Texas, by combinations too powerful to be suppressed 
by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings. 

" Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the 
United States, in virtue of the power in me vested by the 
Constitution and the laws, have thought fit to call forth, and 
hereby do call forth, the militia of the several states of the 
Union to the aggregate number of seventy-five thousand, in 
order to suppress said combinations, and to cause the laws 
to be duly executed. 



"And I hereby command the persons composing the said 
combinations aforesaid to disperse and retire peaceably to 
their respective abodes, within twenty days from this date." 

Now at once appeared the results of Southern blunders. 
By their own acts, they had 

transferred the contest from «[Q j^m j "fO JJl|BJ 
the slavery question, upon --^_ nVq>I>FDCl 

which the Northerners were YUAlUlMlgiJiinDi 

not agreed, to the ground 
of the preservation of the 
Union, upon which the 
Northern people were of 
one mind. Hundreds of 
thousands of men in the 
North and in the "border 
states" cared nothing for 



To the Ciliiens of Mftm C^URlj: 



■ S^rlNgftrM, <!»• !»»•<» •f (*nr™l r 



Each Company 
Eaob CotDpony to eleot thei 






Ml^tsn. and I kopv U k« • 



DUE COUHTHY CAIU! 



il, al no'dttf^ t« aia ■•< MhumI la IW ofM^MtJ i^i^ 

JOHN L. ROUTT, 

■BEBlrr OF McLEAlf COVJtTV. 



the struggle over slavery. 
They saw no reason why 
a Southerner should not 
carry his slaves where he 
wished without danger of 

losing them. The instant that the Southerners under 
another flag attacked the United States, their sympathies 
changed. Even the leading Northern Democrats could 
not bear this insult to the Union government. The Demo- 
cratic ex- Presidents Franklin Pierce and James Buchanan 



Rising of the 
North. 
Battles and 
Leaders, 
1,84. 



486 



The Civil War 



[§337 



Rising of 
the South. 



The " Border 
states," 1861. 



Missouri. 



" came out for the Union," and Douglas promised Lincoln his 
heartiest support. These facts, telegraphed throughout the 
country, turned many a doubting mind. Nobly Douglas re- 
deemed his pledge : the remaining weeks of his life he 
traveled through the Northwest, arousing by his eloquence 
the people there to rally to the support of the Union. 

In the South, even greater unanimity was displayed. The 
federal government at last was about to coerce a state, and 
to the Southerners' minds, filled with the doctrines of Cal- 
houn, this seemed to be an attack on the rights of self- 
government dear to every man of English blood. 

337. The "Border States," 1861. — Between the free 
states of the North and the slave states of the cotton belt 
which had already seceded (p. 473), there stretched two 
tiers of slave states, the more southern of which — Virginia, 
North Carolina, Tennessee, and Arkansas — soon cast in 
their lot with secession (April to May, 1861). Only one of 
the border slave states, Delaware, unreservedly joined the 
North. In two others, Maryland and Kentucky, the politi- 
cians endeavored to set on foot a policy of neutrality which 
would have been very advantageous to the South ; but the 
Union men were strong in both of them, and with encourage- 
ment from the government managed to maintain their states 
on the side of the North. The people of western Virginia 
had no sympathy with the secessionists of the eastern part 
of that state ; they held a convention of their own and, with 
the help of a small federal army, seceded from Virginia, and 
later on (1863) were admitted to the Union as the state of 
West Virginia, although not without straining a point of con- 
stitutional interpretation. 

In Missouri, the contest was for some time doubtful : the 
old native element was strongly in favor of secession, but a 
large body of more recent comers, mainly Germans, were 
as heartily in favor of the Union cause. Fortunately, there 
were two men in the state able and willing to use whatever 
power they had for the Union. These were Francis P. Blair 
and Captain Nathaniel Lyon, the commander of the United 



1 86 1] Strength of North and South 487 

States arsenal at St. Louis. They acted with such prompti- 
tude and with so much skill that the state was saved for the 
Union, although not without a prolonged struggle in which 
Lyon lost his life. It was not, however, until after the defeat 
of the Confederates at Pea Ridge in March, 1862, that the 
question of the control of the state was definitely settled in 
favor of the North. 

338. Military Strength of the North and South. — The strength of 
preservation of the northern border states to the cause of '^^^ '^'^^- 
freedom and union, and the secession of West Virginia from 
Virginia, reduced the area to be conquered, and greatly 
weakened the power of those in rebellion against the fed- 
eral authorities. The slave states, all told, contained twelve 
million inhabitants ; the states which seceded contained less 
than nine millions. Of these only five and one half millions 
were whites, in comparison with a white population in the 
loyal states of twenty-two millions. There were but two 
million eight hundred thousand adult white males in the 
Confederate states, and the federal government had on its 
muster rolls more than one million men in May, 1865. How, 
then, did it happen that the secessionists were not crushed 
at the outset? Why did the contest endure for four 
years ? 

In the first place, the whole population of the seceded Policy of the 
states was utilized for war. The able-bodied men were Southern 
forced into the ranks at first by the violence of public Opinion 
and later by a merciless conscription law. The old men, the 
women, and the children remained at home with the bulk 
of the slaves, and bent all their energies to providing the 
soldiers with food and supplies. But as the men were killed 
or kept in Northern prisons, there were no more to take 
their places in the fighting line. As state after state was con- 
quered, the resources of the Confederate government visibly 
diminished, and as the blockade became more effective, the • 
supplies of the necessities of modern warfare failed. The 
Southerners over-exerted themselves at the outset ; in the 
beginning they presented a stern front to "the invader"; 



488 



The Civil War 



\.i 339 



Policy of the 

Northern 

government. 



Strength of 
the contend- 
ing armies. 
Dodge's 
View, 
116-121, 
322-324. 



in the end they collapsed as no other conquered people 
have done in modern times. 

Far otherwise was it with the Northerners. Unused to 
arms but more accustomed to the management of great 
business enterprises, the Northern statesmen, when the de- 
parture of the Southerners from Congress finally gave them 
the control of the government, set about conquering the 
seceders with one hand, while they built up the industries 
of the North with the other. Long lines of new railroads 
opened up vast regions to settlement, a most liberal home- 
stead law attracted migration to these new lands, and a high 
protective tariff enormously stimulated manufacturing enter- 
prises. The North grew stronger in resources every year ; 
every year there was a greater population from which to 
recruit the armies ; every year there was a greater fund from 
which to draw revenue for the support of the war. The 
North was immeasurably better equipped for battle in 1865 
than in 1861 ; but this vast industrial expansion absorbed 
the energies of a large portion of the adult male population. 

339. Numbers. — Colonel Theodore Ayrault Dodge, in the 
concluding chapter of his very interesting sketch of the Civil 
War, gives some statistics from which it appears that the 
Union soldiers were always more numerous than their oppo- 
nents — at least on paper. For example, on the first day 
of July, 1 86 1, the Union armies numbered one hundred and 
eighty-six thousand soldiers to some one hundred thousand 
on the other side. The Confederate soldiers in January, 
1864, numbered nearly five hundred thousand. At that 
time there were about eight hundred and sixty thousand 
on the rolls of the Union army. Thenceforward the su- 
periority of the Unionists constantly increased until in 
January, 1865, they outnumbered the secessionists two to 
one. As will be seen later on, whenever the figures are 
given, it will be found that the Union soldiers taking part 
in any one campaign or battle outnumbered the Southerners, 
and this was the case in other engagements which are not 
recorded here or whose numbers are not given. It is true, 



]86i] Strength of North and South 489 

therefore, that according to the only records that are pre- 
served, the Northern soldiers outnumbered their opponents 
whether taken as a whole, or considered in portions by 
campaigns or battles. There are few things, however, so 
unreliable as statistics, and these figures especially must 
always be regarded with the greatest caution. The Union 
soldiers performed many services which in the Southern 
armies were discharged by slaves or not at all. For ex- 
ample, the Northern soldiers drove the supply trains, acted 
as servants, and constructed defensive works, all of which 
duties were performed by negroes for the Southerners. It 
probably would not be far from the truth to say that, until 
the last year of the war, the number of soldiers actually 
equipped and ready to take their places in the fighting 
line was about the same on both sides. The Confederates, 
also, by reason of their better knowledge of the country, 
their superior marching qualities, and their shorter interior 
lines, were able to reinforce their armies at the most im- 
portant points with greater ease and speed than the Union 
authorities could. It was not until 1864 that the Union 
forces were really superior in numbers at all points. 

340. Northern Finances, 1861-65. — During the clos- Northern 
ing months of Buchanan's administration the federal govern- ^^^T' 
ment had become nearly bankrupt and had been able to 
fulfill its obligations only by means of loans at very high 
rates of interest. No sooner was the war begun than great 
pressure was felt not only by the general government but 
by the state governments, the municipalities, and financial 
institutions in general. Before the close of 186 1 the banks 
everywhere suspended specie payments. Temporary ex- 
pedients tided the government over the first months of the 
war. Congress assembled on July 4, 1861. It at once 
authorized a loan and raised the import duties. The Mor- 
rill Tariff (p. 465), passed in i860, before the war was 
thought of, became the basis of new taxation, and from this 
time until the close of the conflict, not a session of Con- 
gress went by without some increase of the duties on im- 



490 



The Civil War 



[§340 



ports. The most important of these measures will be noted 
later. In February, 1862, Congress authorized the issue 
of one hundred and fifty million dollars of paper money 
and made them legal tender in payment of debts. Before 
the end of 1863, the amount was increased to four hundred 
and fifty millions. The premium on gold at once began to 
rise ; in 1863 it reached one hundred and seventy per cent, 
and in 1864 touched the highest mark, two hundred and 
eighty-five per cent. Prices and rents, of course, at once rose, 
and at the end of the contest were nearly ninety per cent 




r^^i^<^^M%i^W-^ 



Tt ishei-ebycfrfifier/ /heft 

4 /.. //,r,./,.. /,„,U.^//A.,,...Mr//r,,.. 




^^ Hmvp bei'i 1 (li'iJnsltod >\ illil] u'Trcasuvw of tile l]iuted_ S lates \Vl-, jj 

'''^^'^^__ 6^c\V^ ^^m:^ 



. t,jDjlEy.KLj^Tl)H(JAX^Co.^T(H{Tfjy.BjJSsi-Co.J^\YponKlii- Co. crdieir order 



y,,.,-.,! a/ll/Za/?! M ///</'ar^/i.<rn. 




higher than in 1861. Wages and salaries rose also, but not 
in a corresponding degree — not more than sixty per cent. 
From these facts it can easily be seen that the real cost of 
the war fell most heavily on the poorer classes — on those 
who had nothing to sell save their labor. This, indeed, is 
the invariable effect produced by inflation of the currency 
medium. Another source of funds to which the govern- 
ment had frequent recourse was the issue of bonds at high 
rates of interest to be paid for in the government's own 
depreciated currency. In all, the government incurred a 



i86i] The National Banking System 491 

debt of the face value of two thousand eight hundred and 
fifty millions of dollars, or, including the outstanding paper 
currency or greenbacks, over three billion dollars. 

341. The National Banking System. — As the contest National 
deepened, it became more and more diflficult to sell these t)anks. 
bonds, no matter what the rate of interest or the amount of 
depreciation of the currency which could be paid for them ; 

the people had so little confidence in the stability of 
the government that they were not willing to lend money 
on any terms. Subscriptions to bonds fell off and a new 
expedient to dispose of them was invented. This was the 
national banking system, based on the New York state 
banking system. The first law on the subject was passed 
in February, 1863, and provided that any five or more 
persons with a minimum capital of one hundred thousand 
dollars — in very small places even less — might organize 
a national bank on depositing with the government United 
States bonds to the amount of one third of their capital. 
In exchange for these bonds, the government issued to the 
depositing bank notes redeemable in greenbacks to the 
amount of ninety per cent of the value of the bonds de- 
posited. A market for the bonds of the United States 
would be thus obtained, and a stable currency provided 
for the country. At first the response to this offer was 
not encouraging, but in March, 1864, Congress laid a tax 
of ten per cent on the circulation of the state banks, and 
they at once complied with the provisions of the act of 
1863 and became national banks. 

342. Increased Taxation. — Irredeemable paper currency Taxation. 
and bonds, even when helped by the national bank act, 

did not meet the needs of the government. In 1862 the 
source of revenue which had been discarded by Jefferson 
was again brought into use : by the Internal Revenue Act 
of that year Congress established a comprehensive scheme 
of excise taxation : specific taxes were imposed on the 
production of iron and steel, coal oil, paper, leather, and 
countless other manufactured articles, and a general ad 



492 



The Civil War 



[§343 



Southern 
finances, 
1861-65. 



CONFEDERATE STATES 

ALMANAC 

rOR THE YXAR OF OUR WAD 

18 64 

SEIMO BISSEZTILB, OR LEAP YbAR, AKD THX its 71AA 
or THE INDBPENDKNCE OF TUB CONnSUUTI 

STATES OF AllCBlCA. 



valorem tax on all manufactures not included in this cate- 
gory ; licenses were required in many callings, and a general 
income tax was imposed ; and steamboat, railroad, and 
express companies were also required to pay taxes on their 
gross receipts. Such a system of heavy taxes on goods 
manufactured in the country would have destroyed the 
protective nature of the tariff; it was necessary, therefore, 
to raise the duties levied on imports correspondingly. In 

1864 the internal revenue 
system was enormously ex- 
tended, and in connection 
with it another tariff act was 
passed which raised the duties 
on the protected articles out 
of all proportion to the new 
internal revenue taxes. The 
last act was passed after only 
five days' discussion, owing 
to the pressure of urgent 
need. It substantially re- 
mained in force for twenty 
years, although the high in- 
ternal taxes which justified 
the high rates on protected 
goods were, meantime, largely 
lowered or entirely abolished. ^ 
343. Southern Finances, 1861-65. — The ever-strength- 
ening flood of industry in the North made it possible to 
raise large amounts by taxation, and, in combination with 
the success of the Northern armies after 1863, gave a basis 
for credit upon which to float large issues of bonds. The 
South had no similar resources. There was slight commer- 
cial activity in the seceded states during peaceful times, and 
almost no industry save the cultivation and exportation of 
large crops of cotton and tobacco. The Northern blockade 
of Southern ports effectually stopped this export trade, and 
put an end to the inflow of goods needed in everyday Ufa. 



eAI.eDl.ATIOHS BASB Af 

UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA. 



BURKE. BOYKIN& CO. 

■CACOir, OA. 



J. Mcpherson & co.. 

ATLANTA, OA. 



i86i] Southern Finances 493 

The Southern government was unable to raise any large 
amounts of revenue by taxation ; it necessarily had resort 
to loans and to irredeemable paper money. The bonds 
were issued at ruinous rates of interest ; but no rates of 
interest could procure buyers in a country where there was 
no capital seeking investment. This source of income was 
soon exhausted, and the Confederate government began 
the issue of treasury notes, redeemable six months " after 
the close of the war." Before long, as the Union armies 
seized state after state, these notes depreciated. Then the 
Confederate Congress authorized the seizure of food for the 
army at rates to be fixed every sixty days ; these supplies 
were paid for in bonds or treasury notes. As the war pro- 
gressed, the depreciation of the treasury notes made them 
almost worthless. Wages and salaries rose slowly, but not 
at all in proportion to the rise in the prices of food and 
clothing. The sufferings of those Southerners who neither 
lived on their plantations nor served in the armies are 
almost beyond description. Nothing contributed more to 
bring about this wrecking of the life of the Southern people 
than the closure of their ports by the Northern cruisers. 

344. The Blockade. — On April 19, 1861, President Lin- The 

coin proclaimed a blockade of the ports of the seceded 

Dodges 
States. At the moment, there were few vessels available for yi^^ 

the patrol of the three thousand miles of Confederate sea- ch. viii. 
board. Before long, gunboats were improvised from coast- 
ing steamers, and even ferryboats were pressed into the 
service, while new war ships were built as rapidly as Northern 
shipyards could turn them out. Soon, the federal forces 
occupied important seaports, as New Orleans, and long 
stretches of coast, as the sounds of North Carolina. Month Mobile. 
by month the blockade became stricter and stricter, until ^^^^lay s 

Navy, II, 

finally, after the fall of Mobile in 1864, Wilmington, North 445-504. 
Carolina, was the only port accessible in any degree to 
blockade runners. These were mostly British vessels, owned 
and manned by British men. The blockade runners took on 
board their cargoes at Nassau, New Providence, one of the 



blockade. 



blockade on 
the South 



494 The Civil War [§ 344 

Bahama Islands. The goods were brought to that place 
from Great Britain in ordinary merchant vessels. The story 
of many of these blockading vessels and of their fearless 
commanders is most thrilling, and shows to what extent men 
will peril their Hves for gain. As the blockade became 
harder and harder to evade, the profits of the successful 
blockade runner grew larger. In the last year of the war, 
insurance on the vessels rose nine hundred per cent over 
the rates of 1861, and captains' wages increased from thirty 
pounds to one thousand pounds sterHng per month. 
E^ffects of the Blockade running, however romantic its story may be, 
was a purely business venture. Rates of freight were enor- 
mous, — one hundred pounds sterling per ton. Of course 
useful, but bulky and cheap, goods could not be carried at 
this figure. The blockade runner's cargo consisted of small 
expensive articles, whose importation worked harm to the 
Confederacy. The Southern government endeavored to 
prevent this by forbidding the importation of luxuries, by 
fixing a maximum price on certain articles, and by reserving 
for its own use one half of the freight space on every 
blockade runner, at less than the ruling rates of freight. 
These measures reduced the profits of blockade running, 
decreased the number of vessels in that dangerous business, 
and thus greatly assisted the Northern government in its 
endeavor to cut off the people of the Southern states from 
intercourse with the outer world. A few examples will serve 
to show how well the Union government succeeded in that 
endeavor. In i860 two hundred million dollars' worth of 
cotton was exported; in 1863 four million dollars' worth ; 
toward the end of 1864, a pound of Sea Island cotton could 
be bought for four cents at Charleston and sold for two 
dollars and fifty cents at Liverpool. A ton of salt could be 
bought at Nassau for seven dollars and fifty cents, and sold 
at Richmond for seventeen hundred dollars in gold ; a ton 
of coffee cost two hundred and forty dollars at Nassau, and 
five thousand five hundred dollars in gold at Richmond; 
finally, a bottle of brandy could be obtained at Liverpool 



i86ij Characteristics of the Conflict 495 

for seventy-five cents, and sold for twenty-five dollars in 
gold at Richmond. 

345. Characteristics of the Conflict. — The war was mainly Topography 
defensive on the side of the seceders, offensive on that of the '^^ ^^^ theater 
Union soldiers. It is true that Southern armies occasionally 
invaded the loyal states ; but they never advanced far, and 
were soon obliged to retire. The Northerners, on the other 
hand, undertook the conquest of the South and therefore 
were the attackers. Most writers on the art of war agree 
that defensive is easier than offensive warfare. Other w^rit- 
ers are inchned to doubt the accuracy of this view, or, at all 
events, to maintain that the matter has been greatly over- 
stated They argue, for instance, that the invader can to a 
great extent choose his own time and place ; he also can 
concentrate, while the defender is obliged to maintain many 
posts and be prepared to dispute several roads and passes 
by which the attacker can penetrate into the heart of 
the attacked country. In the Civil War, whatever the case 
may have been as to other wars, the advantage lay very 
greatly on the side of the defenders. The Alleghany Moun- 
tains and the Mississippi River cut the theater of war into 
three great sections ; deep and numerous streams flowing 
eastward and westward from the AUeghanies constantly 
impeded the march of the Northern armies. On the other 
hand, the conquest of the states between the AUeghanies and 
the Mississippi would have been vastly more difficult had it 
not been for the water communication afforded by many of 
these streams, which was utilized to the utmost. Overland 
marching, however, was very difficult in the South ; the rail- 
••oads were few in number, but they were always repaired 
and used to the fullest extent. The land itself was thinly 
settled, and frequently covered by vast forests ihruugn 
which led poor " dirt " roads, impassable for artillery and 
army trains in wet weather. These stretches of wilderness 
were penetrated by numberless unused roads known only 
to the few inhabitants of the vicinity, whose sympathies 
were almost entirely on the side of the Southerners. These 



49^ ^^^ Civil War [§ 346 

conditions were in favor of the defenders throughout the 
South, but more especially in the region fought over by the 
armies defending the political capitals of the combatants, — 
Washington on the Potomac and Richmond on the James. 
The Northern armies were probably better fed, clothed, 
and equipped than any army had been before i860. Their 
very wealth hindered their movements in a region so poorly 
provided with roads as the South. On the other hand, the 
Southern soldiers seldom had much in the way of clothing or 
food to delay their movements. It was not until 1864 that 
the two armies can be said to have been on a footing of 
equality in this regard, and this was then gained by cutting 
down the impedimenta of the Northern armies to the smallest 
possible point consistent with continued efficiency. 
Defense of 346. Defense of Washington, 1861. — Lincoln's procla- 

Washington. j^^j-jqj^ calling for troops was issued on April 15 ; three 
days later a body of Pennsylvania militia reached Washington 
— most of them without arms. The next day, April 19, 
1 86 1, — the anniversary of Lexington and Concord, — the 
Sixth Massachusetts Regiment, hurrying to the protection of 
the capital, was attacked by a mob while marching through 
the streets of Baltimore, and several men were killed and 
wounded. Other troops made their way to Washington 
through Annapolis. Soon their numbers became so formi- 
dable that the disloyal element in Maryland was overawed, 
and the route through Baltimore permanently secured. 

For four years Virginia was the battle ground of the two 
armies, — the one, the Army of the Potomac, defending 
Washington, and endeavoring to conquer Virginia and to 
capture Richmond ; the other, the Army of Northern Vir- 
ginia, endeavoring to defend Virginia and Richmond, to 
attack Washington, and to invade Maryland and Penn- 
sylvania. The scene of the conflict in the East was mainly 
in Virginia, and a knowledge of the topography of that 
state is essential to an understanding of the nature of the 
contest and the difficult task which taxed the resources of 
the invading army. 



i86i] TJieater of War in Virginia 497 

347. Theater of War in Virginia. — Parallel to the Alle- Topography 
ghany system, and east of it, rises a lower mountain range °* Virginia, 
known as the Blue Ridge. Between it and the mass of 
the Alleghanies flows the Shenandoah River. Its course is 
generally northward, and it joins the Potomac at Harper's 
Ferry. The northern part of the valley is again divided 
into two valleys by a mountain mass through which a few 
roads run. This peculiar shape of the Shenandoah valley 
made it possible for a body of troops to defend itself against 
double or treble its own number, since, instead of retreating 
southward, it could retire northward around the other side 
of the mountain, as one boy sometimes escapes another by 
running around a table. In this case, the Confederate, by 
retreating, might really place himself nearer Washington than 
he was in the beginning. Harper's Ferry was commanded 
by the mountains surrounding it, and could be defended 
only by a very large force perched on these heights. The 
Potomac forms the northern boundary of Virginia, which is 
intersected by numerous large rivers having their sources in 
the Blue Ridge, and flowing parallel to the Potomac in a 
general easterly direction. The most northerly of these 
subsidiary streams is the Rappahannock, which at several 
places, as at Fredericksburg, approaches to within a few 
miles of the Potomac. The main branch of the Rappahan- 
nock is the Rapidan. South of these rivers, not far from 
their confluence, is a stretch of sparsely settled country known 
as the Wilderness ; it contains several hamlets, among others, 
Spottsylvania and Chancellorsville. Another important stream 
is the York, formed by the junction of the Mattapony and 
Pamunkey. To the southward is the James, on which Rich- 
mond is situated. Between the York and the James flows 
the Chickahominy, which empties into the James. Another 
important branch of the latter stream, for the student of 
these campaigns, is the Appomattox. It flows into the 
James to the northward of Petersburg, which stands on ris- 
ing ground some little distance back from the latter river, 
and to the south of it. 



498 



The Civil War 



[§348 



First battle 
Df Bull Run, 
July, 1861. 
Battles and 
Leaders, I, 
[67 ; 

Dodge's 
View, ch. iv. 



Railroads were not plentiful in Virginia. There was one 
line, however, which ran southward from the Potomac, nearly 
parallel to the Blue Ridge ; at Manassas Junction, near a 
little stream called Bull Run, a branch joined it from the 
west, which communicated with the Shenandoah valley 
through Manassas Gap. There were of course many sub- 
ordinate rivers and mountains, as well as " gaps " or passes, 
which are not mentioned here ; there were also other rail- 
roads. The most important have been noted, and enough 
information given to enable the student to understand the 
strategy of the Virginia campaigns. 

348. The Bull Run Campaign, 1861. — The first object of 
the Union government was the defense of Washington ; this 
required the possession of the Shenandoah valley and of the 
line of the Rappahannock. The Confederates hoped to pre- 
vent the former and to push the Union soldiers back to the 
Potomac. The control of the Manassas Gap Railroad was 
of supreme importance to both combatants, as its possessor 
would be able to reinforce his troops in the valley or on the 
Rappahannock with ease and speed. Manassas Junction, 
where this railroad joined the hne from Washington to 
Lynchburg, was the key to the situation. McDowell, the 
Union commander, advanced southward from Washington 
to drive the Southerners back from the Manassas Gap Rail- 
road ; General Patterson, with another force, advanced up 
the valley to prevent the Confederates there from going 
to the -aid of their comrades at Manassas Junction. At 
the critical moment Patterson did not attack, and set free 
his opponent, Joseph E, Johnston, who put his men on the 
railroad xars and transported them to Bull Run. This 
stream, ~a branch of the Potomac, protected the Con- 
federate front. McDowell attacked vigorously, and for a 
time the Union soldiers had the best of the fight and vic- 
tory seemed certain. Then the Union troops were divided 
and thrust back. They became panic-stricken and fled to 
Washington (July 21, 1861). The lessons to be learned 
from this defeat were plain enough, — there was nothing 



i86i] The Bull Run Campaign 499 

which could not be repaired. The resolve of the North Johnston's 

only became sterner and their efforts stronger because of it. Orations, 

III, 65-81. 
General George B. McClellan, who had already won several 

small victories in West Virginia, assumed command. Mean- 
time Congress had assembled. The President asked for 
authority to raise four hundred thousand men ; Congress 
voted five hundred thousand. The President asked for four 
hundred million dollars ; Congress authorized a loan of two 
hundred and fifty millions, and began that process of increas- 
ing the taxes which has already been noted (p. 490). Vol- 
unteers poured in to the defense of Washington. McClellan 
proved to be a great drillmaster, and the Army of the Poto- 
mac emerged from its winter quarters a thoroughly disciplined 
body of troops. The victory at Bull Run, on the other hand, 
had disorganized the Confederate army. "Our troops," wrote 
Johnston, " believed the war ended . . . and left the army 
in crowds to return to their homes." 

349. The Contest in the "West, April, 1861, to February, Topography 
1862. — Meantime, west of the Alleghanies events had been 
progressing more favorably for the Union cause. At first 
sight, these Western campaigns seem singularly disjointed 
and difficult to comprehend. A brief study of the topog- 
raphy of that section will greatly help to make the cam- 
paigns of 1861-63 clearer. 

The region between the Alleghanies and the Mississippi, 
extending from the Ohio to the sources of the Torabigby 
and other rivers flowing southward into the Gulf of Mexico, 
is marked by several rivers having a general westerly direc- 
tion, at least through a large part of their respective courses, 
all flowing eventually into the Mississippi. The most north- 
erly of these rivers is the Ohio, forming the northern bound- 
ary of Kentucky, and t^ie dividing fine between slavery and 
freedom in that part of the United States. Before reaching 
the Mississippi, the Ohio turns sharply to the south. Cairo, 
the town which marks the junction of these two great 
streams, is situated farther south than Richmond, the chief 
political capital of the Confederacy. At almost the extreme 



of the West. 



500 



The Civil War 



t§349 



southern point reached by the Ohio, two important rivers 
join it from the south, — the Cumberland and the Tennes- 
see. The former, rising to the west of Cumberland Gap, 
flows first southwestwardly, then westwardly, and turning 
sharply to the north, empties into the Ohio. The Tennes- 
see, rising to the east of Cumberland Gap, flows in the same 




Principal rivers and railroads of the South 

general directions as the Cumberland — its southern bend 
lying far to the south, and its northward course extending 
for a much greater distance ; it flows into the Ohio not far 
to the west of the Cumberland, the town of Paducah mark- 
ing its mouth. These three rivers formed three natural 
lines of defense for the Confederates. The refusal of Ken- 
tucky to secede and the vigor and foresight of General 
Grant and the governor of Illinois prevented the Southern- 



1 862] 



The Contest in the West 



501 



ers from so using the Ohio, Ulysses S. Grant had been 
educated at West Point, and had served with the colors 
during the Mexican War, but was engaged in business pur- 
suits at the time of the firing on Fort Sumter. Entering 
into the contest with great energy, his military knowledge 
at once brought him to the front. He was stationed at 
Cairo. Seeing the importance of Paducah, he seized that 
place and thus gained control of the Ohio for the federal 
government. 

In the first months of 1862, while McClellan held the 
Army of the Potomac inactive in its camps, the Western 
armies were up and doing. On January 19, General George 
H. Thomas defeated a Southern force equal to his own near 
Mill Springs, and compelled the Confederates to abandon 
the upper Cumberland valley. 

Deprived of the control of the mouths of the Tennessee 
and Cumberland rivers, the Southerners had endeavored to 
close them to the use of the Union forces, who were strong 
on the water, by the erection of two forts at points where 
the rivers approach each other very closely before they join 
the Ohio, — Fort Henry on the Tennessee and Fort Don- 
elson on the Cumberland. They were so near together that 
the garrison of one fort could reinforce that of the other. 
The command of the Tennessee was of great importance to 
both combatants ; for if it passed into the hands of the Union 
forces, a highway would be open to them as far south as 
Alabama and Mississippi. In February, 1862, Grant, in 
co-operation with a naval force under Commodore Foote, 
captured the forts and the greater part of their garrisons, 
but not without inflicting severe hardships on the Union 
soldiers, who were exposed to the most inclement weather. 
The valleys of both rivers now lay open to the Union 
armies. In the following March, another Federal army, 
under General John Pope, seized New Madrid and Island 
No. 10, two formidable positions on the Mississippi River, 
and opened that stream to the Union forces as far south 
as Memphis. 



General 

Grant. 

Rhodes's 

United 

States, III 

594- 



Capture of 
Forts Henry 
and Donej- 

son, Febru- 
ary, 1862. 
Battles and 
Leaders, I, 
358: 
Dodge's 
View, ch. vi 



502 



The Civil War 



[§350 



Expectations 
of the 
Southerners. 



The Trent 
affair. 
Battles and 
Leaders, II, 
135- 



350. The Trent Affair, 1861. — Soon after the beginning 
of the conflict, the President, following out the policy of starv- 
ing the Southerners to surrender, had proclaimed a blockade 
of the Southern ports (p. 494). Upon this. Great Britain 
and France granted belligerents' rights to fhe Southerners. 
The Confederates hoped and expected that the foreign 
powers would recognize their independence. They based 
this hope on the idea that " cotton is king " ; tha-t the action 
of the United States in closing their ports and practically 
prohibiting the exportation of cotton would cause so much 
suffering among the working people of Great Britain and 
France that those governments would be forced, not merely 
to recognize the independence of the Southern Confederacy, 
but to take part in the contest and open the Southern ports 
to commerce. In this expectation, they were doomed to 
disappointment. The supply of cotton on hand tided the 
spinners over the first period of the war, until it became 
clear that the contest was in reality a struggle between free 
labor and slave labor, in which free workingmen all the 
world over were interested. Far otherwise was it with the 
governing classes in Britain. A few leading men, as Richard 
Cobden, John Bright, and Goldwin Smith, strongly sup- 
ported the Northern side. But most men in political hfe 
would have gladly welcomed the " new nation," as William 
Ewart Gladstone called the Confederacy. An incident 
almost immediately gave the English government an oppor- 
tunity to show on which side its sympathies were. 

Anxious to secure the recognition of the independence of 
the Confederacy, the government at Richmond dispatched 
two agents or commissioners, as they were called, to Europe. 
Escaping through the blockading fleet, they embarked on 
the British mail steamer Trent, and were removed from the 
deck of that vessel, on the high seas, by a boarding party 
from the United States war ship San Jacinto. The Trent 
was then permitted to continue her voyage. This act 
aroused great rejoicing in the United States ; but Lincoln 
at once said, " We must stick to American principles con- 



1 862] The Trent Affair $03 

cerning the rights of neutrals." Ever since the beginning 
of its existence, the American government had protested 
against the exercise of the "right of search" (pp. 324, 413), 
and had manfully insisted on the freedom of neutral com- 
merce. The British government, without waiting to seek 
explanations from the United States, ordered soldiers to 
Canada and took measures to strengthen the British fleet 
in American waters. Fortunately, Captain Wilkes of the 
Sufi Jacinto had not complied with the formalities required 
by the rules of international law : he had not brought the 
Trent into port for adjudication as carrying contraband of 
war. The United States was therefore able to give up the 
commissioners without loss of honor. The eagerness with 
which Great Britain seized the first opportunity to embarrass 
the United States in a time of great difficulty created a bit- 
terness of feeling in America, which was not lessened by the 
laxity shown by the British government in enforcing inter- 
national obligations in the case of the Alabama and other 
vessels, which will be described later (p. 527). Never- 
theless, the commissioners, when hberated, accomplished 
little or nothing in Europe. 

351. Capture of New Orleans, 1862. — One of the most Blockade of 
difficult problems from the blockader's point of view was the ^^^ Missis- 
closing of the mouth of the Mississippi. As a matter of fact, 
in place of one mouth there were several mouths. It was 
practically impossible to enforce the blockade at this point. 
The possession of the lower Mississippi also greatly favored 
the Confederates by making easy the transportation of troops 
and supplies from Texas ; and there was a large contraband 
commerce across the Mexican border, and thence through 
Texas, which could not be stopped so long as the Con- 
federates controlled the lower Mississippi. For all these 
reasons, as well as for others which are more obvious, the 
capture of New Orleans was extremely desirable. 

New Orleans stands almost on a level with the Mississippi. Topography 
It was entirely unprotected on the river side, but the ap- ° *^°nd*Ne\v 
proach to it was guarded by two forts, situated some dis- Orleans. 



504 



The Civil War 



\^ll^ 



Admiral 
Farragut. 



Capture 
of New 
Orleans, 
April, 1862. 
King's New 
Orleans, 
ch. xiii ; 
Battles atid 
Leaders, 
11,14; 
Maclay's 
Navy, II, 
364-407. 



tance below the city. The country around New Orleans 
was unsuited to military operations, owing to its swampy 
character, and the mouths of the great river were 
all dangerous as anchorages for seagoing vessels. The 
capture of this formidable position was intrusted to David 
G. Farragut, a naval officer who had passed his boyhood in 
Louisiana. He had a large naval force at his disposal, — 
wooden seagoing vessels, — and soldiers were at hand to 
co-operate with him. Farragut lightened his vessels by the 
removal of guns and heavy stores and entered the river with 

all save his larg- 
est ship, 
guns and 
were 
brought 
the bar, 
on board, 
the fleet 
ceeded 
stream, 
found the 
obstructed 
chains and spars. 
While awaiting 
a favorable op- 
portunity to pass 
these obstruc- 
tions, a sustained bombardment of the forts was kept 
up by mortar vessels moored out of sight of the Con- 
federates. Before long, the obstructions were safely passed 
at night, and the Union fleet engaged the forts and a 
Confederate flotilla. Then, steaming onwards, it anchored 
off New Orleans. The city was at Farragut's mercy. It 
surrendered, and soon afterwards the forts vt^ere abandoned 
to the Northern soldiers (April, 1862). This great vic- 
tory gave the control of the lower Mississippi to the Union 
government. 




The 

stores 

then 

over 

taken 

and 

pro- 

up 

He 

river 

by 



Admiral Farra 



i862] 



Shi I oh 



505 



352. Shiloh, April, 1862. — The victories of Thomas and Shiioh, April, 
Grant in January and February, 1862, compelled the South- '^^^'^■ 

, /, ^ ' ^ ^^ BaU/es and 

erners to abandon the greater part of the state of Tennessee Leaders 
and to rally to the defense of the Memphis and Charleston 1.465; 
Railroad. The possession of this road was of the greatest ,?■ "^ ? 

^ ° View, en. X. 

importance to the Confederates, because it connected Mem- 
phis on the Mississippi with. Chattanooga on the upper 
Tennessee, and was the only direct line connecting the 
Mississippi valley above Vicksburg with the Southern Atlan- 
tic states. Its loss would be a severe blow to the Southern- 
ers and would make easier the task of starving them into 
submission. From Memphis, the Memphis and Charleston 
Railroad passes to Corinth ; there it crosses the only north 
and south line then built in that part of the country. Soon 
after leaving Corinth, the railroad reaches the Tennessee 
River, not far from the little town of Florence, and just to 
the south of Shiloh church and Pittsburg Landing. East- 
ward from Florence, the line follows the valley of the Ten- 
nessee, first on one side, then on the other, until it reaches 
Chattanooga. The important points in this line of com- 
munication were Chattanooga, where the railroad connects 
with the seaboard lines ; Pittsburg Landing, where soldiers 
and supplies could be transferred by wagon-road from the 
river steamers to the railroad ; Corinth, the junction with the 
line running parallel to the Mississippi ; and Memphis, an 
important shipping port on the great river. General Halleck, 
who now commanded the Union armies in the West, ordered 
Grant to ascend the Tennessee to Pittsburg Landing, and 
there await the coming of Buell with a strong force from 
Nashville. Suddenly the Confederates, under Albert Sidney 
Johnston, attacked Grant's force and drove it back towards 
Pittsburg Landing. A commander of less stubborn ob- 
stinacy would have retreated ; but Grant, with his indomita- 
ble courage, held on until distant detachments of his own 
army could march to the scene of conflict, and Buell's 
soldiers, who reached the Tennessee in the afternoon of 
the first day of battle, could be ferried across the river. 



506 The Civil War [5 353 

Then Grant attacked in his turn and drove the Confederates 
back (April, 1862). This battle was one of the most hotly 
contested during the war, and cost the opposing armies 
twenty-four thousand men, killed, wounded, and missing : 
among the killed was Albert Sidney Johnston, the Con- 
federate commander. 

Halleck now assumed direct command of the Northern 
forces, united Grant's, Buell's, and Pope's armies into one 
formidable body, and occupied Corinth (May, 1862). 
Memphis surrendered to a naval force about a month later. 
The Mississippi was now open to Union vessels, except 
between Memphis and Baton Rouge. The Confederates 
were severely crippled by the loss of men and territory, and 
especially by the destruction of one end of their principal 
defensive line west of the Alleghanies. Unless they could 
regain control of Corinth and Memphis, they were likely to 
lose the states of Mississippi, Alabama, and Tennessee. 
Ironclads. 353. The Monitor and the Merrimac, March, 1862. — 

Vessels cased wholly or partly in iron had been in use on the 
Western rivers since the autumn of i860, and had played an 
important part in Grant's campaign on the Cumberland and 
Tennessee. The first armored vessel to appear in Eastern 
waters was the Vii-ginia. Among the graceful frigates of 
the pre-war period was the Merrimac. She was at Norfolk 
at the outbreak of the contest, and was only partially de- 
stroyed by the Union forces when they abandoned the navy 
yard at that place. The Confederates built upon her hull 
a house of iron with the eaves under water, armed the bow 
with a formidable iron beak, and named her Virginia. This 
extraordinary vessel appeared in Hampton Roads on March 
8, 1862, destroyed two wooden frigates, — the Cumberland 
and the Congress, — and began the destruction of a third, 
the Mijinesota. She then retired to Norfolk, intending to 
continue her destructive work on the morrow. On the night 
following this disastrous day, an even stranger vessel anchored 
in Hampton Roads. This was the Union armored ship, the 
Monitor, designed by John Ericsson, an immigrant from 



i862] 



The Peninsular Campaign 



507 



Sweden, and built in one hundred days. She was con- 
structed entirely of iron, and carried two large guns mounted 
in a revolving iron turret. Her sides rose hardly two feet 
above the water, and the armor, extending far beyond her 
hull, effectually protected it from the danger of ramming as 
well as from shot and shell. The next morning the Virginia 
reappeared, and after a four hours' fight retired to Norfolk 
and did not afterwards renew the combat. The battles be- 
tween the Virginia and the wooden vessels of the old type, 
and with the turret ship of the new type, worked a revolution 
in naval architecture ; but the danger threatened by the 
Virginia was probably much exaggerated, as she could not 
have ventured into the open sea. The fear she inspired, 
however, operated powerfully to keep the naval authorities 
from exposing their unarmored vessels in the James and the 
York rivers, and thus produced some effect on McClellan's 
campaign. 

354. The Peninsular Campaign, March to August, 1862. — 
Throughout the winter of 1861-62, McClellan had under his 
immediate command double the force of the Confederate 
general, Joseph E. Johnston, but he could not be induced 
to take the field. In March, 1862, he at last assumed 
the offensive. Instead of maneuvering Johnston out of his 
fortified position, and attacking him on the first opportunity, 
McClellan decided to transport his army to the peninsula 
formed by the York and the James rivers, and advance upon 
Richmond from the east instead of from the north. By 
pursuing this route, he would avoid crossing the Rappahan- 
nock, Rapidan, Pamunkey, and Mattapony rivers, and would 
compel Johnston to abandon his camps near Bull Run and 
march southward to the defense of the Confederate capital. 
McClellan, however, encountered several checks at the out- 
set : the civil authorities, anxious for the safety of Washing- 
ton, retained about seventy-five thousand men there and in 
the Shenandoah valley. McClellan's plans became known 
to Johnston almost as soon as formed. The result of this 
and of McClellan's slowness was that when the Union sol- 



Monitor and 
Merr'unac, 
March, 1862. 
Old South 
Leaflets, III, 
No. 3; 
Battles and 
Leaders, I, 
611, 692; 
Maclay's 
Navy, II, 
282-324. 



Peninsular 
campaign, 
1862. 

Battles and 
Leaders, II, 

189,319; 
Dodge's 
View, chs. 




CIVIL WAR 

IN THE EAST 



1 862] 



Second Bull Run Campaign 



509 



diers reached the peninsula, instead of finding it a clear 
field for their advance on Richmond, they found their way 
barred by a hne of entrenchments extending from Yorktown 
to the James. By the end of May, however, the Union 
army reached the vicinity of Richmond, and fought a severe 
and indecisive battle at Fair Oaks — about ten miles from 
the Confederate capital (May 31). Joseph E. Johnston 
was wounded, and Lee assumed command. Meantime a 
Confederate army in the Shenandoah valley, led by Thomas 
J.Jackson, — known popularly as "Stonewall Jackson," — 
had been fighting a remarkable campaign. So admirably 
had Jackson planned, and so wonderfully had his soldiers 
marched, that they had defeated two Union armies in suc- 
cession. Lee now ordered Jackson to abandon the valley 
and transport his men by rail to Richmond. With this rein- 
forcement, Lee attacked the Union army again and again 
(June 26-July 2, 1862) ; forced it to withdraw to the 
James ; and attacked it there on Malvern Hill, to be re- 
pulsed with fearful loss. In these engagements, the total 
loss was thirty-six thousand men, more than one half of 
which was on the Southern side. 

355. The Second Bull Run Campaign, August, 1862. — 
Notwithstanding its misfortunes, the Army of the Potomac 
still threatened Richmond, and Lee, to secure its withdrawal, 
determined to make a demonstration against Washington. 
Halleck's victories at Corinth and Memphis had commended 
him to the government. He had been summoned to Wash- 
ington to act as chief of staff, or military adviser to the 
President. In his turn he had called General Pope from 
the Mississippi valley to command the troops defending 
the federal capital. Halleck and Lee had known one 
another before the war, and Lee now felt certain that if he 
should seriously threaten Washington Halleck would sum- 
mon McClellan from the peninsula. This calculation proved 
to be well founded, for no sooner was Lee's purpose known 
than McClellan was ordered to retire from the neighborhood 
of Richmond and later to send assistance to Pope. The 



Pope's 
campaign, 
1862. 

Battles and 
Leaders, 
11,501; 
Dodge's 
View, ch. 
xiv. 



5IO 



The Civil War 



[§356 



Second 
battle of 
Bull Run, 
August, 1862. 



Antietam, 

September, 

1862. 

Battles and 

Leaders, 

11,630; 

Dodge's 

View, 

102-107. 



Fredericks- 
burg, Decem- 
ber, 1862. 
Battles and 
Leaders, 
III. 70; 



Confederates now made one of those rapid marches by which 
they gained decisive advantage. Jackson appeared on Pope's 
line of communication and compelled him to retire. That 
general had begun his career in the East with a most vain- 
glorious proclamation about neglecting lines of retreat. He 
was now compelled to look to his own. Lee then rejoined 
Jackson, inflicted a severe defeat on the Federals at Bull 
Run (August 29-30, 1862), and forced Pope backwards to 
the defensive works around Washington. It was thought 
at the time that the lukewarmness of McClellan's men in 
supporting Pope had materially contributed to this disaster 
to the Union cause ; especially was Fitz-John Porter blamed. 
It now seems certain that, although the Union soldiers felt 
slight confidence in Pope, they performed their duties in an 
able and soldierly manner. 

356. The Antietam and Fredericksburg, 1862. — Elated 
by this extraordinary success, -the Confederate authorities 
determined to carry the war into the North. Lee crossed 
the Potomac near Harper's Ferry to release Maryland from 
" the foreign yoke " — as connection with the Union was 
termed — and to add that state to the number of the 
seceders. He found the mass of the people of Maryland 
hostile. Meantime McClellan was now again in command. 
Keeping between the Confederates and Washington, he met 
the Southerners at the Antietam and there fought a bloody 
battle (September 17, 1862). The Union force was double 
that under Lee ; but McClellan threw away the advantages 
which his superiority gave him in a series of disconnected 
assaults. The two armies lost twenty-two thousand men, 
more than twelve thousand being on the Union side. Lee 
then retreated across the Potomac, and McClellan was super- 
seded by General Ambrose E. Burnside. 

The Confederates now fortified Marye's Heights on the 
south side of the Rappahannock behind Fredericksburg. 
Burnside attacked this impregnable position in front, and 
was repulsed with a loss of thirteen thousand men to four 
thousand on the Confederate side (December 13, 1862). 



1 862] Campaign m Eastern Tennessee 5 1 1 

The "Horror of Fredericksburg" led to Burnside's re- Dodge's 

moval and the elevation of " Fighting Toe " Hooker to the ^''^• 

° ° ■' 110-115. 

chief command of the Army of the Potomac. 

357. Campaign in Eastern Tennessee, 1862. — After the Bueii and 

occupation of the western end of the Memphis and Charles- ^J,^^f' 

T, M 1 ,• r 1 1 , , Battles and 

ton Railroad, two Imes of attack presented themselves to Leaders, 
the Union commander : the capture of Vicksburg and other m. 31; 
fortresses on the banks of the Mississippi, and the occupa- ^°^ ^*^h xv 
tion of Chattanooga and eastern Tennessee. The latter 
was the more important as its accomplishment would make 
communication between Virginia and the Gulf states diffi- 
cult and slow and thus greatly aid a future conquest of 
Mobile, Vicksburg, and other places in Mississippi. Accord- 
ingly, Halleck ordered Buell, with one portion of the 
Western army, to proceed to Chattanooga ; Grant and 
Rosecrans, with the other divisions, were to remain in 
and about Corinth and make what conquests they could. 
Braxton Bragg, the new Southern commander in the West, 
showed himself to be a man of military perception and 
energy. Leaving Price and Van Dorn to occupy the 
attention of Grant and Rosecrans, he placed thirty thou- 
sand men on railroad cars, transported them to Mobile, 
and thence to Chattanooga, and reached that place in 
advance of Buell. He then eluded that commander and 
marched northward across Tennessee and Kentucky to 
the vicinity of Louisville on the southern side of the 
Ohio River ; a small force even penetrated as far as 
Cincinnati. Bragg was then obliged to retire and to fight Perryviiie, 
the Union army at Perryviiie (October 8, 1862). After ^0';'°'^*^^' 
this conflict he retired to Chattanooga. Buell, instead of 
following him, halted at Nashville, oa the Cumberland, and 
was relieved by Rosecrans. 

Before long Bragg again marched northward. This 
time he advanced as far as Murfreesboro on the road Rosecrans 
to Nashville. There, near Stone River, he encountered ^^ ®'^?^' 

. '. ' Stone River 

the Union army, which was on its way southward to December, 
Chattanooga, A most stubborn contest followed. Splen- 1862. 



1 862] Line obis Policy as to Slavery 513 

didly commanded by Thomas and Sheridan, the Union Battles and 
center repelled every Southern attack (December 31, ^^'^dos, 
1862), Out of eighty thousand men engaged, twenty- Dodge's 
three thousand were placed out of the fighting line by View, 122- 
this one day's battle. Bragg retired toward Chattanooga, and ^^ * 
Rosecrans remained where he was for nearly six months, 
until June, 1863. 

Meantime Price and Van Dorn endeavored to carry out 
their part of the Confederate plan of campaign. They 
attacked the Union armies at luka (September 19, 1862) 
and at Corinth (October 3 and 4, 1862), and were each 
time repulsed, but they prevented the sending of rein- 
forcements to Buell. The autumn campaign, therefore, 
may be said to have been unfavorable to the Northern 
armies. 

358. Lincoln's Policy as to Slavery, 1861-63. — In his in- Lincoln's 
augural address (p. 482), President Lincoln had stated that slavery 
he stood by the declaration in the Chicago platform (p. 469), jggjl^g 
— that the right of " each state to regulate its own domestic 
i-nstitutions according to its own judgment exclusively " was 
essential to the " endurance of our political fabric. For 
a long time, a year and a half, Lincoln maintained this 
position so far as the march of events permitted him so 
to do. In 186 1 General John C. Fremont, the first candi- 
date of the modern Republican party for President, and 
now commanding the mihtgiry department of Missouri, had 
issued an order to the effect that the slaves of all persons in 
Missouri, taking up arms against the Federal government, 
should be free. The President overruled him. Later on, 
in 1862, General Hunter, commanding the Federal forces 
in South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, issued an order 
declaring all the slaves in those states free ; but Lincoln 
reversed this order, stating that he reserved the manage- 
ment of the whole matter to himself as commander in chief. 
He well knew that the mass of the people in the North 
cared little for abolition and would not have entered upon 
the war to free the slaves — their purpose was to save the 



514 



The Civil War 



[§358 



Congress 
and slavery, 
1862. 



Lincoln's 
letter to 
Greeley, 
August, 1862. 
Stedman 
and Hutchin- 
son. VII. 81; 



Union. There was, however, a body of determined and 
energetic men in the North who were resolved to bring 
about the abolition of slavery. They did not at all like the 
attitude which the President had taken. 

From the very beginning of the conflict slaves had been 
received into the Union lines and there retained. General 
B. F. Butler, commanding at Fortress Monroe, appears to 
have begun this measure by refusing to deUver up slaves 
who had escaped into his lines to their owner, a Confederate 
soldier — who claimed them under the Fugitive Slave Act. 
Butler declared that he retained them as " contraband of 
war," on the ground that their services would be useful to 
the enemy. This policy was approved by the President and 
by Congress. 

In March, 1862, Lincoln took an important step in recom- 
mending Congress to grant pecuniary aid to any state which 
should undertake the gradual abolition of slavery with com- 
pensation to the owners. Congress fell in with the Presi- 
dent's views; it also (April, 1862) passed a law abolishing 
slavery in the District of Columbia with compensation to 
the owners ; West Virginia, too, abolished slavery within its 
limits. The Senate, at about the same time, ratified a 
treaty with Great Britain for suppressing the slave trade 
by permitting a mutual right of search of merchant vessels 
within two hundred miles of the African coast, and within 
thirty leagues of the more important places outside the 
United States, where slavery still existed. In June (1862), 
Congress took a long stride forward by abolishing slavery in 
the territories without compensation, and in the following 
July passed an act authorizing the seizure of slaves of 
persons then in rebellion. 

Lincoln had been much influenced by the stubborn resist- 
ance offered by the Southerners. He also probably thought 
that the antislavery sentiment was gaining strength in the 
North. He already had in mind the emancipation of the 
slaves in the states then in insurrection as a war measure 
justifiable under the Constitution. On August 19, 1862, 




1863] The Emancipation Proclamation 515 

Horace Greeley's paper, the New York Tribii7te, contained American 
an article bitterly attacking the President's policy of inaction ■^"'''^ 

• • T , T • r , Leaflets, 

as to slave emancipation. In reply Lincoln wrote a letter ^o. 26. 
to Greeley, contradicting nothing, denying nothing, but 
setting forth his ideas in language which no one could mis- 
understand. "I would save the Union," he said ; "I would 
save it the shortest way under the Constitution. . . . My 
paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and 
is not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could save 
the Union without freeing any slave, I would do it ; and if 
I could save it by freeing all the slaves, I would do it ; and 
if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone, 
I would also do that." The true heart and singleness of 
purpose which animated Lincoln, as well as the wisdom 
which guided his actions, were 
seldom more conspicuous than 

in this letter, which should be cX yJ-.o/^-^^-C^^^V 
read by all students who desire to understand this epoch in 
our history. His " personal wish," he concluded by saying, 
was " that all men everywhere could be free " ; at the time 
it did not coincide with what he deemed to be his plain 
official duty as President. 

359. The Emancipation Proclamation, 1863. — Lincoln Emandpa- 
soon became convinced, however, that the emancipation of tion Procia- 
the slaves, so far as he could bring it about, would be a January, 
justifiable means of distressing the Southerners, and would 1863. 
arouse sympathy for the Union cause abroad. At the same ^/'^ f°ll\^ 
time, it would satisfy the demands of an influential body of ger. No. n; 
his supporters in the North, and could be justified to his Stedman 

TT 1 and Hutchin- 

more numerous supporters as a war measure. Me only ^^^ yj g^ 
waited for some Union success to justify the step. The 
collapse of Lee's invasion of Maryland gave him the oppor- 
tunity he desired, and on September 22, 1862, he issued a 
proclamation stating that on the first day of the new year 
(1863) he would declare free all slaves in any portion of 
the country which should then be in rebellion against 
the United States. Accordingly, on January i, 1863, he 



5i6 



The Civil War 



[§360 



Political 
results of the 
proclama- 
tion. 



Topography 
of country 
around 
Vicksburg. 



issued the Emancipation Proclamation. The force and 
legal effect of this document has been disputed ; it is clear, 
however, that it operated to free persons held in slavery in 
portions of the United States then in insurrection, wherever 
such portions were occupied by the Union armies. Of 
course it did not abolish slavery as an institution anywhere. 
As the declaration of a policy, its effect was very important. 
In the November elections following, the Republicans lost 
ground. Some of the change of feeling, thus indicated, was 
due to Lincoln's action ; but how much cannot be stated. 
In the end, however, the policy found favor. Two slave 
states still in the Union abolished slavery, — Missouri, June, 
1863, and Maryland, October, 1864. The issue became 
one of the important questions in the campaign of 1864, 
which resulted in the overwhelming re-election of Lincoln 
(p. 528). The Congress then in being had already rejected 
the Thirteenth Amendment abolishing slavery throughout 
the United States. It now (January, 1865) accepted it 
by the necessary two-thirds majority. The amendment was 
ratified by the requisite number of states and declared in 
force, December, 1865. Slavery was now legally abolished 
throughout the Union. 

360. The Vicksburg Campaign, 1863. — The departure of 
Halleck and Pope to Washington and Buell and Rosecrans 
to eastern Tennessee left Grant in sole command in Missis- 
sippi. Unfortunately, Halleck did not trust Grant, and the 
latter's military rivals were, therefore, frequently able to 
hamper his plans. A study of the map of the forms of 
land (Map I) at once shows the difficulties which nature 
placed in the way of the further conquest of the Missis- 
sippi valley. The great flood plain of that river extends 
on the western side nearly to the mouth of the Ohio ; on 
the eastern side, it is cut into two parts by the bluffs which 
approach the river at Natchez and form its eastern bank 
northward to Vicksburg. Northward from the latter point the 
flood plain again stretches along the eastern bank as far as 
Memphis (Map p. 512). These "bottom lands" wera 



1863] 



The Vicksburg Campaign 



517 



admirably suited to the cultivation of cotton ; they were 
practically inaccessible to an army, and almost inaccessible to 
a hostile fleet, as the channels of the streams which intersected 
them in every direction could easily be blocked by felUng 
trees on their banks. In these circumstances, the easiest 
way to approach Vicksburg was by an overland march south- 
ward from Corinth. Public opinion in the North, however, 
was decidedly in favor of an advance by the Hne of the Mis- 
sissippi. Grant divided his army, sending Sherman down the 
river while he marched overland. A sudden attack on his 
supply depots compelled Grant to draw back, and Sherman, 
assaulting the bluffs above Vicksburg, was repulsed with 
heavy loss. Grant now carried his whole army down stream 
and tried scheme after scheme without accomplishing his 
purpose. Vicksburg itself was of slight importance, but bat- 
teries posted on the high ground just above the town and 
also on a level with the stream commanded the course of 
the river for miles, as in those days it made a bend at al- 
most a right angle at this point. Finally, Grant marched 
his army by Vicksburg on the other side of the Mississippi, 
crossed the river below the fortress, and after fighting sev- 
eral battles gained a position in its rear. The Confederate 
commander. General Pemberton, retreated with his army into 
the works, although Joseph E. Johnston, who had recovered 
from his wound and had assumed command of the Confed- 
erate forces in the West, ordered him to save his army by 
flight. After enduring a long and perilous siege, Pember- 
ton surrendered (July 4, 1863). In a few weeks, the 
other Confederate posts on the river also fell into Union 
hands, and the Mississippi from source to mouth was under 
the control of the national government. While Grant and 
Pemberton were arranging terms of capitulation on July 3, 
1863, the Union army repelled the last assault of the Con- 
federates on the lines at Gettysburg. 

361. Chancellor sville, May, 1863. — From the middle, of 
December, 1862, to the end of April, 1863, the Army of the 
Potomac remained quietly in camp at Falmouth, opposite 



Grant 

captures 
Vicksburg, 
July, 1863. 
Battles and 
Leaders, 

in. 493; 

Dodge's 
View, 

93-101. 
142-161. 



518 



The Civil War 



[§36i 



Chancellors- 
ville, May, 
1863. 

Battles and 
Leaders, 

in. 154; 

Dodge's 

View, 

127-131, 



Gettysburg, 
July, 1863. 
Battles and 
Leaders, 

in, 255; 

Dodge's 

View, 

132-141. 



Fredericksburg — the Confederates retaining their strong 
position on Marye's Heights (p. 5 to). At length, on April 
30, Hooker led the Army of the Potomac out of its camps, 
and, by a skillful maneuver, placed it nearly across the line 
of Lee's communications with the South. Instead of pushing 
to the utmost the advantage thus gained, Hooker halted 
in the forest, which is dense at that point, establishing 
his headquarters at Chancellorsville. Lee had about one 
half as many soldiers under his orders as Hooker. Never- 
theless, he divided them in two parts. With one portion 
Jackson marched across the front of the Union line and 
suddenly attacked it at the point farthest removed from 
Marye's Heights. He found the Northern soldiers entirely 
unprepared, and nearly destroyed Hooker's right wing 
before help could be sent ; on the following night, Jackson 
was accidentally shot by his own men while returning from 
an examination of the Union position. Lee, redoubling 
his attacks, drove Hooker back across the Rappahannock 
and then, turning on a P'ederal force, which had mean- 
time seized Marye's Heights, compelled them to seek the 
northern shore of the stream. In four days (May 2-5, 
1863) Lee, with sixty-one thousand men, had dealt a terrible 
blow to the Army of the Potomac of one hundred and five 
thousand men. He now decided again to invade the North. 
362. Gettysburg, July, 1863. — Leading his soldiers 
through the valley of Vir'ginia, Lee crossed the Potomac 
and entered Pennsylvania. The Army of the Potomac also 
crossed that river, keeping between the Confederates and 
the national capital. On June 28, while this movement 
was in progress, the Union forces received a new com- 
mander, George G. Meade. Three days later (Juiy i), the 
two armies came together at the little village of Gettysb'arg. 
At first the Confederates were in greater force and the 
Unionists retreated through the village to a fishhook-shaped 
crest known locally as Cemetery Ridge. The position 
proved to be remarkably strong, and Meaae determined to 
fight the decisive battle at that point. On the next day 



1863 j Northern Opposition to the War 519 

(Juiy 2) the Confederates attacked vigorously, drove back 
the Union left, and gained a position on the right which seri- 
ously menaced the whole line. On the morning of the 3d, 
the Northern soldiers drove them out of this advantageous 
spot, and repelled every attack. Lee determined to make 
one more assault, and sent General Pickett, with fifteen 
thousand men, against the Union center defended by troops 
und^r General Hancock. Splendidly the Southerners 
marched forward, to be repulsed with awful loss. The bat- 
tle of Gettysburg was won at a loss of fifty thousand men 
out of a total of one hundred and seventy thousand engaged. 
In this conflict, the Confederates had the fewer men and 
suffered the greater loss. 

Gettysburg and Vicksburg should have ended the war ; 
there was no longer any hope of Southern success : every 
month the war continued only made more dreadful the 
ruin of the South ; every month saw an addition to the 
strength and resources of the North. 

363. Northern Opposition to the "War. — It was, indeed. Opposition 
fortunate that these successes came when they did : for the *° Federal 

TT • 1 1 J 111 government 

Union government, at the moment, was hard pressed by the in the North. 

Northern opponents of its policy. There were many sincere, Johnston's 

well-meaning persons in the North who were strongly of '''^''""". 

the opinion that the general government, under cover of 

military necessity, was using its power to overthrow the 

rights of the states and the personal hberty of private citizens. 

In the critical days following the fall of Fort Sumter, Lincoln 

had found it necessary to seize private property, as railroads 

and telegraph Hnes, and to use them for military purposes. 

He also had ordered the arrest of persons suspected of 

hostihty to the Union cause. There was little evidence 

to convict these persons of crimes recognized by the law, 

and, to secure their detention, Lincoln had suspended the 

operation of the writ of habeas corpus. This brought about 

an irritating constitutional controversy. The Constitution 

(Art. i, § 9) merely states that the "writ of habeas 

corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in cases of rebel- 



520 



The Civil War 



[§364 



The draft 
riots, 1863. 



Chicka- 
mauga, Sep- 
tember, 1863. 
Battles and 
Leaders, 
111,638; 
Dodge's 
View, 
172-183. 



lion or invasion the public safety may require it." Article i 
relates to the legislative power, and it might be inferred 
from this that the intention of the Constitution was that 
Congress should exercise the suspending power. The Presi- 
dent ordered the suspension of the writ when Congress was 
not in session, and there was ground for the argument that 
unless the Executive exercised this function it could not be 
exercised at all in very critical moments. In 1863 Con- 
gress, by act, conferred on the President the right to sus- 
pend the operation of the writ. Since the war, the Supreme 
Court has decided that the final decision as to the suspen- 
sion of the writ in a particular case belongs to the courts. 

Another cause of opposition was the action of the govern- 
ment in pursuance of an act of Congress passed in 1863. 
This authorized the general government to have resort 
to a " draft " or conscription to fill the ranks of the armies. 
In the summer of 1863 riots directed against the enforce- 
ment of this law occurred in several places, especially in 
New York. The government was now strong enough to 
bear down all opposition, and the rioters were severely dealt 
with. The real result of the draft act, however, was to com- 
pel the states to fill their quotas of soldiers by paying large 
bounties to those who would enlist in the army. 

364. Chickamauga and Chattanooga, 1863. — In June, 1863, 
Rosecrans again to®k up the task of capturing Chattanooga. 
By a series of well-planned and admirably executed man- 
euvers he compelled Bragg to abandon that place. After 
Gettysburg, the Confederate army in the West was reinforced 
by two of Lee's divisions, under one of his best commanders, 
General Longstreet. General Burnside also led a new Union 
army to eastern Tennessee, and occupied Knoxville. On 
September 19, 1863, Bragg suddenly attacked Rosecrans at 
Chickamauga, and nearly routed him. But here, as at Mur- 
freesboro, Thomas saved the day by holding the center of 
the Union position. Thomas then succeeded Rosecrans in 
command, but was obliged to shelter his army in Chatta- 
nooga, where Bragg blockaded it, while Longstreet besieged 




^e^y^^i^^'^''^ 



L./'-y^ff'-^'^'A^ 



American generals 
521 



522 



The Civil War 



[§365 



Chattanooga, 
November, 
1863. 

Battles and 
Leaders, 
III, 679; 
Dodge's 
View, 



Grant made 
lieutenant 
general, 
March, 1864. 



Atlanta 
campaign, 
1864. 

Battles and 
Leaders, 
IV, 260; 
Dodge's 
View, 
223-243, 
2^^-262. 



Burnside at Knoxville. Meantime, Grant had taken com- 
mand of all the Union armies west of the Alleghanies. 
He hastened to the help of Thomas and Burnside. Re- 
inforcements had also been sent from the East, and Hooker, 
with a detachment from the Army of the Potomac, reached 
Chattanooga immediately before Grant, with Sherman's 
corps of the Mississippi army, arrived on the scene of 
action. Grant at once sent Sherman to attack Bragg's right 
and Hooker to gain his left, while with Thomas's veterans 
he held him fast in his Unes. Everything fell out happily : 
Thomas's men, eager to show their courage, carried the 
Confederate center by assault, and Bragg retreated in con- 
fusion (November, 1863). Sherman then went to the relief 
of Knoxville ; on his approach Longstreet retired through 
the mountains to Virginia. 

Grant had won the confidence of the Northern people by 
his brilliant successes. He was now made Heutenant gen- 
eral, and given command of all the Union armies on both 
sides of the Alleghanies (March, 1864). He assumed direct 
control of the operations in Virginia, and confided the 
leadership of the armies operating from Chattanooga to his 
tried and trusted subordinate. General Sherman. 

365. The Atlanta Campaign, May to July, 1864. — The 
task to which Sherman set himself was most arduous. Atlanta 
was the only manufacturing town of importance, from a mili- 
tary point of view, in the Confederacy. It also was an impor- 
tant railway center, as the lines from Alabama, Georgia, 
and the Carolinas converged there. The country between 
Chattanooga and Atlanta was very difficult of access : the 
railroad ran through narrow gorges under mountains, whose 
tops, crowned with artillery, made advance on that line impos- 
sible. The Confederate government gathered every soldier 
who could be spared from the defense of Richmond to 
guard this important post, and placed in command Joseph 
E. Johnston, of living Southern commanders second only to 
Lee. To the conquest of these seventy-five thousand men, 
Sherman brought one hundred thousand veterans- 



1864] Plan of Campaign 523 

Instead of attacking Johnston in front, Sherman used his 
superiority in numbers to outflank him, and thus compelled 
him to retreat from one strong position to another. 
Johnston showed great abihty, but the skill of the Union 
commanders and the enthusiasm, courage, and discipline of 
the Northern soldiers overbore all obstacles. The Con- 
federate government had never placed entire confidence in 
Johnston, and his retreat impelled them to displace him and 
appoint Hood to the chief command at the moment when the 
Union army was approaching Atlanta. Hood was expected 
to fight, and not to retreat. Again and again he attacked 
Sherman, only to be beaten off with cruel loss. He then 
advanced northward in the expectation that Sherman would 
follow him, and thus abandon the conquest of Atlanta. But 
the Union commander contented himself with sending back 
a portion of his troops under Thomas and Schofield. With 
the remainder, some sixty thousand strong, he completed 
the destruction of the mills and factories at Atlanta, and set 
out for the seacoast through the heart of the Confederacy. 

366. Plan of Campaign. — The " march to the sea " had strategy of 
long been in contemplation. In the preceding years, while the ^^^4- 

,T- 1 1 • -1, • ^^11^- Battles and 

Vicksburg campaign was still in progress. Colonel Grierson, i^eaders 
with seventeen hundred men, had ridden from the Tennessee iv, 247. 
to Baton Rouge. He reported that " the Confederacy was a 
mere shell." Apart from the soldiers in the front, there were 
almost no fighting men in the South, Sherman thought, 
and Grant agreed with him, that as long as he was out of 
the reach of the armies under Lee and Hood, he would be 
perfectly safe. The advantages of his proposed movement 
were many : in the first place, it would go far toward con- 
vincing the Southerners of the hopelessness of further resist- 
ance, and would probably increase the opposition to the 
Confederate government, which was already noticeable in 
some portions of the South : in the second place, its suc- 
cessful prosecution would encourage the people of the 
North, and might have an important effect on European 
public opinion. The great dangers to be apprehended were 



524 



The Civil War 



[§367 



Sherman's 
marches 
through 
Georgia 
and the 
Carolinas. 
Old Smith 
Leaflets, 
III, N0.5; 
Battles and 
Leaders, 
IV, 663 ; 
Dodge's 
Vieiv, 
279-292, 
302-309. 



from the two Confederate armies. Grant felt able to keep 
Lee fully employed ; but could Thomas, without Sherman's 
aid, crush Hood? After a thorough consideration of all 
these points, Grant gave Sherman permission to go. 

367. Sherman and Thomas. — Leaving Atlanta, Sherman 
and his men marched gayly through Georgia. Everywhere 
as they passed along they destroyed the railroad system 
by tearing up rails and twisting them into fantastic shapes 
by means of fire. The soldiers lived off the country, but, 
when not opposed, otherwise respected the rights of pri- 
vate property. On December 10, 1864, Sherman opened 
communication with the Union fleet blockading Savannah. 
Ten days later, his soldiers entered that city. After resting 
his men, he again set out — this time on a more difficult 
and dangerous enterprise. The plan now was that he 
should march northward through the Carolinas, and occupy 
some position whence he could menace Lee's communica- 
tions with the Southern states. With his customary fore- 
sight and energy, Sherman started before he was expected 
to do so, and thus gained a position in front of a force which 
had been gathered to oppose him. His northward advance 
compelled the evacuation of Charleston, and, on February 
1 7, he entered Columbia, the capital of South Carolina. Lee 
now assumed the responsibility of appointing Johnston to 
command the defense against this invasion from the South. 
That general exercised all his old-time skill, but nothing 
that he was able to do could stop Sherman : the latter 
reached Goldsboro, North Carolina, in safety, and once 
again opened communication with the fleet. Meantime 
Wilmington had fallen, and Thomas had destroyed Hood's 
army. Schofield, with a portion of the Western army, joined 
Sherman at Goldsboro; the latter was now (March 21, 
1865) fully able to cope with any army the Confederates 
could place in the field. 

For a time, indeed, it had seemed as if Thomas would 
not be able to carry out the part of the plan which had been 
assigned to him. A portion of his force under Schofield 



1864] 



Grant and Lee 



525 



was attacked at Franklin, in Tennessee, and he was obliged 
to retire to Nashville before he felt able to make a stand 
against Hood. At that place he slowly gathered a formi- 
dable army about him, but refused to sally forth until his 
preparations were complete. Grant and the government 
at Washington became alarmed ; they endeavored to stir 
him. Thomas would cheerfully hand over the command to 
another ; he would not give battle until he was ready. At 
last all preparations were made ; he left his entrenchments 
(December 15, 1864) and attacked Hood. In two days he 
not merely routed that general : he destroyed his army as a 
fighting force — it was never brought together again ! 

368. Grant and Lee, 1864. — In May, 1864, the Army of 
the Potomac again took up its task of the destruction of Lee's 
army, and the conquest of Richmond. Grant directed the 
campaign in person, but Meade remained in direct control 
of the Army of the Potomac. The Northern soldiers num- 
bered one hundred and twenty thousand, to whom Lee 
could oppose only seventy thousand men. On May 5 the 
two armies came together in the Wilderness, not far from 
the fatal field of Chancellorsville. For two days (May 5, 6, 
1864) a terrible contest prevailed, and then Grant moved 
by his left to Spottsylvania Court House, and here again a 
fearful conflict raged in the woods and clearings (May 10- 
12). .Then again by a flank march Grant led his army first 
to the North Anna and then to Cold Harbor, on the battle 
ground of the Peninsular Campaign. At the latter place 
there was nearly continuous fighting for eleven days (May 
31 to June 12). Then Grant, unable to advance, transferred 
his army to the James. But there Lee again forestalled 
him, and occupied Petersburg on the Appomattox. These 
bloody conflicts cost the Union army sixty thousand men, 
to fourteen thousand for the Confederates. The Federal 
government refilled Grant's shattered ranks ; Sherman 
moved northwards ; Thomas destroyed the Confederate 
army in the West, and there was no source from which the 
Confederates could replace their losses. Grant, seeing clearly 



Nashville, 

December, 

1864. 

Battles and 

Leaders, 

IV, 440; 

Dodge's 

View, 

293-30i> 



The 

Wilderness 

campaign, 

1864. 

Battles and 

Leaders, 

IV. 97; 

Dodge's 

View, 

197-222, 

244-254. 



526 



The Civil War 



[§369 



Northern 
prisoners in 
the South. 



the exhaustion of the fighting population of the South, re- 
fused to permit any more exchanges of prisoners, declaring 
that a Northern man who died in the horrible prison pens 
of the South laid down his life for the nation's cause equally 
with the man who was killed on the field of battle. Toward 
the close of the conflict, the Southerners suffered great hard- 
ships, even the soldiers in the ranks of the army opposing 




Libby Prison 



Sheridan in 
the Valley, 
1864. 



Grant in Northern Virginia could not be supplied with vege- 
tables. They were attacked by scurvy, which dreadful dis- 
ease also accounted for the death of many Northern captives 
in Southern prisons. 

369. Sheridan's Valley Campaign, 1864. — Grant now 
besieged Lee in his lines at Petersburg. Gradually the ever- 
increasing pressure became unbearable, and Lee sought to 



i864j Sheridan s Valley Campaign 527 

divert Grant from his purpose by an attack on the Union Battles and 
capital. Detaching one of his ablest subordinates, Jubal ^^'^d^*'^- 
Early, he directed him to penetrate the Shenandoah val- Dodge's 
ley and seize Washington. Early reached the defenses View, 
of Washington, but delaying the attack, was detained long ^!^2^^1' 
enough by a hastily levied force to enable two army corps 
to reach Washington from the James. The Confederates 
then retired into the valley. To combat Early, Grant gave 
Sheridan forty thousand men with orders to devastate the 
valley so that no Confederate force could march through it. 
The campaign which followed saw each army successful in 
turn. Finally, Sheridan obtained the upper hand, drove the 
Confederates back, and destroyed everything eatable that 
could be found. He then rejoined Grant at Petersburg 
(November, 1864). 

370. Great Britain and the Confederate Cruisers. — In the The 
earlier years of the war, a few Southern vessels ran the Confederate 
blockade and began the destruction of Northern commerce Maciay's 
on the ocean. The most important of these were the Navy, ii, 
Sumter and the Florida, the latter a British-built vessel S53-561. 
which was converted into a man-of-war at Mobile. The 
most famous of the Confederate cruisers, however, never 
entered a Southern port. This was the Alabatna, built in 
England, on the Mersey, and permitted to go to sea by 
the British government, notwithstanding the protests of the 
American minister at London, Charles Francis Adams. After 
a most destructive career, lh.Q Alabama was finally sunk off Kearsarge 
Cherbourg, by the United States ship Kearsarge, commanded ^"'^ 
by Captain Winslow (June 19, 1864). The two vessels were Maciay's* 
of about the same size and armament ; but the guns of the Navy, ii, 
Kearsarge were better aimed than those of her opponent, ^ ^""573- 
and the powder of the Alabama was so defective that such 
of her shot as reached the Kearsarge did little damage. 

The Confederates also contracted for the construction The 
of two powerful ironclad rams in England. The British Confederate 
government showed no desire to seize them before coraple- ''^""^* 
tion, and informed Adams that it could not interfere. The 



528 



The Civil War 



[§371 



The 

Shenandoah. 



Election of 

1864. 

Stanwood's 

Elections, 

236-252. 



American minister thereupon wrote to Earl Russell, the 
British foreign minister : *' It would be superfluous for me 
to point out that this is war." But the English government 
had already awakened to the danger of its position and had 
seized the vessels. 

The last of the Confederate cruisers to keep the seas was 
the Shenandoah. Coaling at Melbourne, she sailed for the 
northern Pacific and there destroyed the American whaling 
fleet after the surrender of Lee and Johnston. The inaction 
of the British government on all these occasions aroused 
intense resentment in the United States, and became the 
subject of negotiation and arbitration (p. 547). 

371. Lincoln's Re-election, 1864. — In the Northern states 
were to be found many persons who were actively opposed 
to the further prosecution of the war. These were mostly 
Democrats, and they nominated General McClellan for the 
presidency. The extremists among the Republicans, who 
thought the administration was not sufficiently vigorous in 
its policy, especially as to slavery, nominated John C. Fre- 
mont. Lincoln was nominated by a convention composed 
of Republicans and of those Northern Democrats who were 
heartily in favor of the maintenance of the Union. The 
convention placed a Democrat, Andrew Johnson, a Union 
man from Tennessee, on the ticket with Lincoln, as candi- 
date for the vice-presidency. This convention favored the 
vigorous prosecution of the war and a continuance of a 
national policy as to pubhc improvements. Fremont with- 
drew ; the Democrats carried three states, — New Jersey, 
Delaware, and Kentucky ; Lincoln and Johnson were elected 
by two hundred and twelve electoral votes out of a total of 
two hundred and thirty-three, their majority in the popular 
vote being more than four hundred thousand. The people 
of the North had decided by an overwhelming vote that the 
war should be fought to the end. Preparations were at 
once made for its prosecution on a larger scale than ever 
before. The Union army steadily increased in size until May, 
1865, when over a million men were on its muster rolls. 



i86s] The Surrender of Appomattox 529 

For the South, any such display of vigor was out of the 
question. The Confederacy was a shell : there were no 
more white men to be forced into the ranks ; there were no 
more arms or military equipments ; there was hardly food 
enough at the front for the soldiers already in the field. The 
Congress at Richmond passed a bill for the employment of 
slaves as soldiers ; it was proposed to arm at least one regi- 
ment with pikes. 

372. The Surrender at Appomattox, 1865. — As soon as it Appomattox, 
was possible to move, the Northern soldiers began the final April, 1865. 

„ , t , 1 1 J Battles and 

campaign of the war. Grant had now one hundred and headers, 
twenty-five thousand men to Lee's sixty thousand. On the first iv, 708 ; 
day of April, 1865, Sheridan, with a strong force of cavalry podges 
and infantry, gained a position at Five Forks which com- 310-319. 
manded the roads to the rear of Richmond and Petersburg, 
and Lee could not drive him back. Lee therefore withdrew 
his army from his works and endeavored to escape by the 
valley of the Appomattox to the mountains, in the hope, per- 
haps, of combining his troops with the force under Johnston's 
command. At last, the Northern soldiers were too quick 
for him. Sheridan, with the cavalry and the Fifth Corps, 
outmarched the Confederates ; the remainder of the Army 
of the Potomac pressed on their flank and rear. On April 
7, 1865, the van of the starving army of northern Virginia 
reached the vicinity of Appomattox Court House. A body 
of dismounted Union cavalry barred the way. The Con- 
federates deployed to brush aside this obstacle, when the 
cavalrymen, withdrawing to one side, disclosed an infantry 
line of battle. Farther progress was impossible, and Lee 
surrendered (April 9, 1865). The terms given to the South- 
erners were singularly liberal : the Confederates were to lay 
down their arms and cease from acts of hostiUty. Later on 
an attempt was made to punish the politicians who had led 
the South to secession and ruin, but that was abandoned. 

373. Assassination of Lincoln, April 14, 1865. — On April 
14, the people of the North were aglow with enthusiasm 
over the fall of Richmond and the surrender of Lee's armv ; 



530 



The Civil War 



[§374 



Assassina- 
tion of 
Lincoln. 



Cost of the 
war. 
Dodge's 
View, 
ch. Ixi. 



on the morning of the 15th, they were plunged into a depth 
of gloom such as had never been known in the history of the 
United States. On the evening of the i4tli, Lincoln was 
shot by a crazed sympathizer with the cause of secession 
and slavery, and an attempt was also made on Seward's 
life. With Lincoln perished the one man able and willing 
to restrain the Northern extremists. Andrew Johnson be- 
came President, and the pohcy of the government soon 
underwent a great change (p. 537). 

374. Cost of the War. — The War for the Union cost the 
nation, North and South, the lives of nearly a million men : 
about ninety-five thousand Northern soldiers were killed on 
the field of battle, or were fatally wounded and died in hospi- 
tals ; one hundred and eighty thousand more succumbed 
to disease while on the army rolls. To these figures must be 
added those who died from accident, disappeared perma- 
nently, or died in Southern prisons or in consequence of dis- 
ease or wounds contracted while in the service ; the total of 
those who perished from all these causes is not far from one 
half a million ; about as many more Southerners perished 
from similar causes. Hundreds of thousands more con- 
tracted disorders or received wounds while in the service, 
which did not lead directly to death but which shortened 
life or made it wretched. The total money cost of the war to 
the Union government was about three and one half thousand 
million dollars — excluding expenses incurred by states and 
municipalities, which amounted, in all probability, at least 
to three hundred millions more. Adding to this the amount 
paid and to be paid in pensions to those who risked their 
lives and the well-being of their families for the Union cause, 
and the amount of private property destroyed during the 
conflict, the war for the Union cost not less than ten thou- 
sand million dollars. 



Questions and Topics 531 

SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS AND TOPICS 

§§ 334-345- The Beginning of Civil Strife 

a. Do you consider that Lincoln or Washington best represents 
American Hfe? 

<5. Upon what premises did Lincoln base his conclusion that " the 
Union is much older than the Constitution"? 

c. Give as many facts as possible to support the statement, " in the 
end they collapsed as no other conquered people have done in historical 
times." 

d. What is meant by the statement, " there are few things, however, 
so unreliable as statistics"? 

e. Why did the Confederates have "superior marching qualities"? 

f. Compare the uprising of the Northern and the Southern people. 
In which section was there greater unanimity? 

g. Draw an imaginary picture of what might have happened had 
the "border states" seceded. 

h. Compare the war policies of the North and the South. Was it 
possible for the South to have pursued a different policy? 

i. The national banking system: why was it established? Describe 
it What changes might now be made to adapt it to present condi- 
tions? 

j. Is it true that the blockade " was the chief factor " in the defeat 
of the South ? Give your reasons. 

§§ 346. 347, 349- The Theater of War 

a. Draw three maps showing (i) the theater of war as a whole, 
(2) the East, (3) the West (Dodge's Bird^s-Eye Vieiv). Describe by 
recitation lines of communication and lines of defense. 

b. Draw two maps, one representing the theater of war in Virginia 
during the Revolution, the other, during the Civil War. Enter fully 
upon each name and date of battles; what points of similarity and 
dissimilarity strike you? 

§§ 35o> 370- Relations with Great Britain 

a. Do you consider the bitterness of feeling towards Great Britain 
justifiable? Give your reasons. Has Great Britain done anything 
since 1865 to lessen this feeling? 

b. Why were " free workingmen all the world over " interested in 
the struggle between the North and the South? 

c. Who formulates the rules of International Law? What is meant 
by " according belligerent rights "? How does it differ from " recogni- 



532 The Civil War 

tion of independence"? Why were both Great Britain and France 
opposed to nationalism in the United States? 

d. What argument in favor of democracy do you find in § 350? 

§§ 359j 360. Slave Emancipation 

a. (i) Trace in detail Lincoln's policy as to slavery. (2) Describe 
carefully the position of the Republican party as to slavery. (3) Was 
the war begun to free the slaves? (4) Would you have advocated 
war in 1861 to secure immediate emancipation? (The first three of 
these questions may be used as Topics for Individual Investigation.) 

b. Discuss the constitutionality of the Emancipation Proclamation. 
Is there any limit to the President's war powers? In how far do the 
proclamations of a President have legal force? 

§§ 363. 371- Northern Opposition 

a. Compare the mode of recruiting during the Revolutionary War 
and during the Civil War. 

b. Why was Andrew Johnson nominated for Vice-President? 

c. Compare the votes cast in 1856, in i860, and in 1864. What 
changes of sentiment can you discern? 

d. Does the Constitution authorize Congress to draft soldiers? 

General Questions 

Subjects for special study in secondary authorities: (i) assign to 
each student a campaign or a battle to be studied in Dodge's Bird's- 
Eye Vietv and in Battles and Leaders, or in other convenient books; the 
report should include a map or plan of the campaign or battle; (2) the 
pairt played by the "Old Northwest" in the war; (3) the part played 
by the " border states," or by any one of them; (4) development dur- 
ing the Civil War of the railroad system, or the action of the homestead 
law, or the exploitation of the mineral resources, or the progress of 
mechanical invention, or industrial expansion; (5) the attitude towards 
the United States of the leading nations of Europe; (6) the questions 
of international law which grew out of the Civil War. 



CHAPTER XIV 

NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT, 1865- 1900 
Books for Consultation 

General Readings. — Johnston's American Politics, 207-279; Wil- 
son's Division and Reunion, 254-299. 

Special Accounts. — Lalor's Cyclopcedia articles by Johnston ; 
Blaine's Twenty Years; Landon's Constitutional History; Sterne's 
Constitutional History ; Andrews's Last Quarter Century. Lives of the 
leading statesmen, Guide, § 25. On the currency see Walker's Political 
Economy and Laughlin's Political Economy. 

Sources. — McPherson's Handbooks; Appleton's Annual Cyclopce- 
dia ; Mulhall's Dictionary of Statistics; Tenth Census; Shaler's 
United States. Writings of leading statesmen, Guide, §§ 32, t^t,. 

Bibliography. — Gordy and Twitchell, Pathfinder in American 
History. 

Illustrative Material. — Whittier's Democracy ; Tourgee's A FooVs 
Errand and Bricks without Straw ; Hale's Mr. Merriam's Scholars. 

NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT, 1 865-1 897 

375. Return to Peace Conditions. — The war was over: Return to 

its close brought with it new conditions and new problems P^^'^^ '^°^^ 

° ... tions. 

whose solution has been most difficult. The enormous mili- 
tary and naval forces were to be disbanded ; wounded and 
disabled Union soldiers and sailors with their families were 
to be cared for; an enormous debt was to be paid off; 
emancipation was to be completed, and the negroes pro- 
tected in their new freedom ; and vexatious political ques- 
tions were to be settled. All these matters were pressing, 
but on many of them it was nearly impossible to reach agree- 
ment. Above all, it was necessary for the government and 
the people to abandon extravagant habits which had grown 

533 



534 National Development [§ 376 

up during the war, and once again consent to live the 
slower and more commonplace existence which belongs to 
times of peace. The stimulating legislation of war time, 
and the energ)' of the Northern people, had opened up 
new sources of wealth, and greatly extended the old forms 
of production. All these were now to be protected and 
extended, and the Southern people induced to gain their 
share in this vast material growth. 

The history of the period extending from the close of the 
war to 1890 naturally divides itself into two parts : one deal- 
ing with political problems mainly, the other having to do 
with industrial progress. Of the two the latter is by far the 
more important; it deserves the most careful study from 
every one taking part in the government of the country, 
either directly as a voter or indirectly as influencing the vote 
of another person. It will be convenient first to consider 
the political and constitutional history. 
Rtfducrion of 376. The Army and Navy. — Even before the surrender 
anny and ^t Appomattox, but when the exhaustion of the South had 
become apparent, the government's recruiting offices had 
been closed and a stop put to further enlistments. As soon 
as possible after Lee's surrender, the discharging of the 
soldiers was begun, and it was pushed on with vigor. In 
six months' time eight hundred thousand soldiers had been 
mustered out of the service, and at the end of the year 
(1865) only fifty thousand remained on the government's 
rolls. Since then, the number has been still further dimin- 
ished, until in 1890 there were only twenty-five thousand 
soldiers in the service of the United States. The militia 
organization of the states has been maintained on a much 
better basis than before the war. There is more uniformity 
in drill and accoutrements, and the discipline is much better. 
Military traditions have been kept, alive by societies of 
veterans, as the " Grand Army of the Republic," and other 
organizations based on the military units of the Union armies, 
as the " Society of the Army of the Cumberland." There 
can be little question that the country is now better pre- 



navy. 



1865] 



The War Debt 



535 



Maclay's 
Navy, II, 
577-601. 



pared for war than at any time between the Revolution and 
the outbreak of the Civil War. 

Reduction of the navy also went on with vigor. The 
men were discharged and the ships were laid up at the gov- 
ernment yards or were sold out of the service. For years 
the navy steadily declined in efficiency, until the govern- 
ment possessed no vessels able to cope with the modern 
ships oi even the lesser American powers, as Chile. In 
1884-85 the beginning of a new navy was made. For in The new 
those years four vessels were launched. They were built on "*^y- 
modern plans and proved to be serviceable. From time to 
time other vessels were built, until there came into being a 
small but very effective navy. A scheme of a naval militia 
was also set on foot. 

The Union soldiers and sailors returned to private life, Pensions 
honored and respected by all. Mindful of its obligations. 
Congress, by law, has provided pensions for those veterans 
whom wounds or the inevitable hardships of military service 
have made unable to earn a livelihood, and has also made 
provision for those dependent upon them. The expense of 
this pension system at one time was about one hundred and 
forty million dollars a year. 

377. The War Debt. — At the close of the war the interest- 
bearing debt amounted to two thousand four hundred million 
dollars, with an annual interest charge of one hundred and 
fifty millions. In addition, there was the non-interest-bear- 
ing debt to the amount of nearly five hundred miUions more. 
This was in the form of paper money, issued directly by the 
government. The interest-bearing debt was in the form of 
bonds which had been floated at very high rates of interest 
and paid for in the government's own depreciated currency. 
The disbandment of the mihtary and naval forces decreased 
the amount the government was obliged to pay out day by 
day, and made it possible for it at once to begin to pay off 
the debt. Before the end of 1865 thirty-five millions were 
paid off, and the process went steadily on. The internal rev- 
enue taxes bore heavily on industry, and, as soon as possible. 



The national 
debt. 



536 



National Development 



[§378 



The nation's 
credit. 



Resumption 
of specie 
payments, 
1879. 



they were either lowered or abolished. This, of course, 
reduced the income of the government and retarded the 
payment of the debt. In 1869 Congress took up the mat- 
ter in earnest. The old arguments of Washington's time 
were repeated. It was said that the obligations had not 
produced their face value to the government, and might be 
redeemed at less than par. But the necessity of protecting 
the government's credit prevailed, as it had in the earlier 
days (p. 266). Congress now passed an act "to restore 
the public credit." In this it pledged itself to redeem the 
public obligations in coin at their face value. The credit 
of the government at once improved and enabled it to 
replace the bonds bearing high rates of interest by those 
bearing much lower rates. This set free large sums with 
which to pay off bonds, and before 1880 more than eight 
hundred million dollars were devoted to this purpose. In 
1890 the amount of the interest-bearing debt had decreased 
to a little over one thousand milUon dollars, and the total 
debt, including the paper money but minus the cash in 
the treasury, was very nearly one thousand four hundred 
million. 

The government also greatly increased its credit by re- 
suming payments in gold (1879). Previously, in 1871, 
silver was withdrawn from circulation as money except in 
fractions of the dollar. To many persons in the poorer 
sections of the country this seemed to be an act favoring 
the people of the richer sections. In 1878 they secured 
the passage of a law requiring the coinage of silver dol- 
lars at the rate of two millions a month. Later on, this 
policy was extended, until the amount of silver money 
in circulation threatened to drive gold money out of the 
country. 

378. Lincoln's Southern Policy. — When the war broke 
out, Lincoln, and the Republicans generally, had denied the 
possibility of a state seceding and leaving the Union. The 
people of the states which had passed secession ordinances 
were now beaten and crushed into subjection. Meantime, 



1865] 



Lincoln s Southern Policy 



537 



a new element had come into the question : the President, 
by virtue of the war power, had issued the Emancipation 
Proclamation — which had certainly not abolished the insti- 
tution of slavery in the states where it had a legal existence, 
although it had operated to free the negroes then in bond- 
age in a large part of the South. To settle the slavery ques- 
tion forever, Congress had passed the Thirteenth Amendment, 
which was now (1865) before the stats legislatures for adop- 
tion. What was the relation of the states which had at- 
tempted to secede to the Union and to this amendment? 
Were " states " indestructible whether in or out of the Union ? 
Or had insurrection reduced these states to the standing of 
territories? If the former were the case, the consent of 
some of the states which had attempted to secede was nec- 
essary to the ratification of the amendment ; if the latter 
were the case, might not Congress impose the amendment 
on the states as the price of readmission? The problem of 
reconstruction was still further complicated by the fact that 
the chief executive was no longer a man in whose judgment 
the Northern people had every confidence, or one who pos- 
sessed great power in dealing with men. On the contrary, 
the White House was now occupied by a Southern man, who 
had not the slightest tact, and in whom the people of the 
North had no confidence at all. This was due in great meas- 
ure to faults in Johnson's character, which were rendered the 
more conspicuous because of their absence from Lincoln's. 
Johnson's motives were good, his patriotism unquestionable, 
and his judgment usually sound ; but he obscured all those 
good points and ruined his influence with the people by 
coarse bitter invectives against all those with whom he could 
not agree. 

In an address (April 11, 1865), Lincoln set forth his 
ideas on the subject of reconstruction. He thought that 
the " question whether the seceded states, so called, are in 
the Union or out of it " was " bad as the basis of contro- 
versy, and good for nothing at all — a mere pernicious ab- 
straction." The states in question were " out of their proper 



Constitu- 
tional posi- 
tion of the 
seceded 
states. 



President 
Johnson. 



Lincoln's re- 
construction 
policy. 



538 National Development [§ 379 

practical relation with the Union," and the sole object of 
those in authority should be " to again get them into that 
proper practical relation." He beheved that it was possible 
to restore such relation " without deciding or even consider- 
ing whether those states have ever been out of the Union." 
Acting on these ideas, he had previously (December, 1863) 
issued a proclamation offering pardon to all persons, except 
certain classes, who should take an oath to support the Con- 
stitution and the laws and proclamations as to the emanci- 
pation of slaves. He further promised that as soon as one 
tenth of the voters in any one state should take this oath 
and set up a republican form of government in that state, 
the federal government would recognize it as the legal state 
government. The question of admission of the senators 
and representatives from such a state, however, was neces- 
sarily reserved to Congress. Arkansas, Louisiana, and Ten- 
nessee were reorganized on this basis in 1864 ; but Congress 
refused to receive the electoral votes of Louisiana and Ten- 
nessee in the autumn of that year. 
Johnson's re- 379. Johnson's Reconstruction Policy, 1865. — President 
construction Johnson now (1865) proceeded to reorganize the other 
states on the above lines, and had succeeded in every case 
when Congress came together in December, 1865. The new 
state governments had adopted the Thirteenth Amendment, 
and it was declared in force (June) ; slavery was extinct in 
the United States, even in Kentucky and Delaware. These 
states had not been affected by the Emancipation Procla- 
mation, had not adopted any plan of emancipation, and had 
refused to ratify the Thirteenth Amendment. The legislatures 
of the reorganized Southern states had not, ^however, merely 
ratified the amendment and formed state constitutions, — 
especially Mississippi and South Carolina, — they had also 
passed many laws which went far toward destroying the 
effects of emancipation. These provided that negroes who 
would not work should be regarded as "vagrants" and 
compelled to labor. In fact, had these laws been carried 
out, forced labor would have been practically re-established. 



1865] The Freedmen's Bureau 539 

The new Congress met in December, 1865 ; the Southern Congress 

states were omitted from the roll call, and it soon became ^"'^ recon- 

evident that there was a great difference of opinion be- 1865-66.' 

tween the Republicans who held control of Congress and Johnston's 

the President on the matter of reconstruction. The feeling Orations, iv, 

° 129-180. 
of the Northern congressmen toward the South was largely 

determined by the action of the new Southern legislatures 
toward the negroes. The Republicans held a two-thirds 
majority in both houses, and were therefore able, when 
united, to override the veto of the President. The theory 
soon adopted by the ruling party was that the insurrection 
in the South had suspended for them all the body of federal 
law, and they could only be readmitted to the enjoyment of 
the privileges of states by Congress, — in other words, they 
were practically in the situation of territories. Johnson, in- 
stead of trying to calm the rising spirit of hostility to his 
measures, lost no opportunity to denounce Congress, declar- 
ing that it "was no Congress, as the Southern members were 
not allowed to take their places. The elections of the next 
year (1866) returned a large Republican majority to Con- 
gress ; and it thus fell out that through the whole of John- 
son's term his veto amounted to httle, as in almost every 
case a two-thirds majority in both houses was able and 
wiUing to pass its original measure over the President's 
opposition. 

380. The Freedmen's Bureau. — In March, 1865, Congress TheFreed- 
had established, under the direction of the War Department, 
a bureau to provide for sick and helpless freedmen for the 
term of one year. The officers of the bureau also did what 
they could to settle disputes between the employers of labor 
in the South and their former slaves. In this way the bureau 
did much to soften the severity of the operation of the 
forced labor laws. In February, 1866, Congress passed 
a bill continuing it for two years, and greatly enlarging its 
field of activity. This was opposed to the President's re- 
construction policy; Johnson vetoed the bill, and enough 
members of Congress were friendly to him to make it impos- 



men s 
Bureau, 1865 



540 National Development [§ 381 

sible to pass it over his veto. The breach between the 
President and the RepubHcan party now rapidly widened, 
mainly owing to Johnson's intemperate language. In July, 
1866, another bill was passed, continuing the bureau for two 
years, providing for the education of the blacks, giving the 
proceeds of confiscated lands for that purpose, and also 
providing that the rights of the freedmen should be enforced 
by the army. Johnson promptly vetoed this measure, and 
it was at once passed over his veto. The Freedmen's Bureau 
was not finally abolished until 1870. 
Fourteenth 381. The Fourteenth Amendment. — In March, 1866, after 

1865" '"^^ ' Johnson's first veto of the Freedmen's Bureau Bill, Congress 
passed a Civil Rights Bill for the protection of the emanci- 
pated negroes. This gave jurisdiction in cases arising under 
it to the federal courts alone. Johnson vetoed this measure 
on the ground, among others, that it was unconstitutional. 
Congress passed the bill over the President's veto. The 
question of the constitutionality of the measure was set at 
rest by the adoption of the Fourteenth Amendment. Sec- 
tion I of this amendment provided that " all persons born 
or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the juris- 
diction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the 
state wherein they reside." This was aimed at the opinion 
expressed by the Supreme Court in the Dred Scott case 
(p. 448). The first section also forbade the states to 
abridge in any way the rights of the citizens. Section 2 
provided that representation in Congress should be appor- 
tioned among the states according to their respective num- 
bers. Whenever any state should deny the franchise to any 
citizens, except for " participation in rebeUion or other 
crime," the representation of that state should be dimin- 
ished accordingly. The third section excluded from the 
national services all persons who, " having previously taken 
an oath ... to support the Constitution of the United 
States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against 
the same." Congress, however, by a two-thirds vote of each 
house, might remove this disability. Section 4 guaranteed 



1867] 



The Reconstruction Acts 



541 



Johnston's 
Orations, lY 
181-188. 



the validity of the federal debt, and declared all debts 
incurred in support of " insurrection or rebellion against the 
United States " to be null and void. 

Congress proposed this amendment to the states in June, 
1866. Tennessee, which had already agreed to the Thir- 
teenth Amendment, accepted this one also ; the other 
Southern states rejected it. 

382. The Reconstruction Acts, 1867. — When Congress The Recon 
met in December, 1866, it was known that the Southern ^*''"'^*'°" 

' ' Acts, 1867. 

States had rejected the Fourteenth Amendment. It was 
also certain that the Northern states, by returning a strong 
Republican majority to Congress in the preceding Novem- 
ber, had given a strong approval to the congressional plan 
of reconstruction. Inspired by the action of the Northern 
and Southern states, Congress hastened to complete this 
work with or without President Johnson's consent. The 
Tenure of Office Act limited the President's power of re- 
moval of government officials ; another act established 
universal manhood suffrage as the condition of the admis- 
sion of Nebraska. Both were passed over the President's 
veto, as was the Reconstruction Act, which became law on 
March 2, 1867. According to this last act and supplemental 
acts enacted by the new Congress, the states which had 
passed ordinances of secession, save Tennessee, were formed 
into five military districts. Each district was placed under 
the rule of an army officer assigned to that duty by the 
President. These military commanders were to exercise Process of 
wide discretion ; they were to respect such state laws only ^'.^constmc- 
as were not hostile to the rights of the freedmen. Further- 
more, they were to register as voters all men of twenty-one 
years and upwards, save those who would be excluded from 
the franchise by the proposed Fourteenth Amendment, and 
those who had committed crime other than participation in 
rebellion. The requirement of residence in any one state 
to acquire the franchise was fixed at one year, which was 
the usual condition in Northern states. These conditions 
practically excluded from the franchise the old white popu- 



542 National Development [§ 382 

lation of the South, and gave it to the blacks and to white 
immigrants from the North. The latter came in large 
numbers, bent on making fortunes on easy terms. They 
had no intention of permanently residing in the South, and 
were not overburdened with much in the way of baggage. 
Indeed, one carpet-bag frequently sufficed to hold the be- 
longings of each of these Northern immigrants, and they 
were hence termed " the carpet-baggers." Some of them 
were high-minded men of ability ; but, for the most part,, 
they were designing persons, whose previous careers had 
not been successful. They soon acquired a complete as- 
cendency over the freedmen, and, for a time, misruled the 
South to their own advantage. 

The voting list having been made up as described in the 
preceding paragraph, the process of reconstruction might 
be proceeded with, (i) The voters in any one state should 
elect delegates to a constitutional convention, who (2) should 
frame a state constitution on the basis of manhood suffrage 
— excepting those excluded by the proposed amendment. 
(3) The constitution should then be submitted to the reg- 
istered voters for ratification ; (4) the constitution being 
accepted, it then became the duty of the voters to elect a 
legislature, which (5) should ratify the Fourteenth Amend- 
ment. All these steps being accomplished to the satisfaction 
of the federal government, the representatives of the state 
would be admitted to Congress, and the process of recon- 
struction would be complete. The government reserved 
the right, however, to interfere with this process at any 
stage, and compel the proceedings to be gone through with 
again from the beginning. Under the provisions of this act, 
all the Southern states which had seceded in 1860-61 re- 
entered the Union, with the exception of Tennessee, which 
was already admitted, Georgia, which had been refused 
admission when her legislature declared negroes ineligible 
to office, and Virginia, Mississippi, and Texas, because they 
had declined to accept constitutions conferring the suffrage 
on the blacks. 



1867] Foreign Relations 543 

383. Impeachment of President Johnson, 1868. — Until impeach- 
1867 it had generally been held that the President, who ™ent of 
shared the power of appointment with the Senate, had abso- j858_ 
lute power of removal. In that year, however, Congress, by 
passing the Tenure of Office Act over Johnson's veto, sought 

to make removals also contingent on the approval of the 
Senate. In 1867 the President demanded the resignation of 
Stanton, Lincoln's War Secretary, who still held office, and 
was not in sympathy with his new chief; Stanton refused to 
resign. Finally, Johnson removed him, in spite of the Ten- 
ure of Office Act, which he regarded as unconstitutional. 
Stanton appealed to the House of Representatives, and that 
body impeached the President for disregarding the law. 
The trial lasted from March to May, 1868, when the Senate 
failed to convict Johnson by a vote of thirty-five to nineteen 
— two-thirds not voting for conviction. Johnson, no 
doubt, was right in his interpretation of the Constitution; 
it is to be regretted, however, that while the impeachment 
proceedings were going on he continued his bitter attacks 
on his political opponents. In March, 1869, his stormy 
term of office came to a close, and General Grant succeeded 
him as President. 

384. Foreign Relations, 1865-69. — While the Civil War The French 
was still in progress, and the United States was practically i" Mexico, 
powerless to enforce the principles of the Monroe Doctrine, ^ ^~ ^' 
Great Britam, France, and Spain joined together to coerce 

Mexico into a payment of her national debt. Great Britain 
and Spain remained members of this curious league for a 
short time only. The French, left to themselves, overran 
Mexico, and instituted an empire in that country, with an 
Austrian archduke, Maximilian, as Emperor. This action 
of France aroused great indignation in the United States. 
Napoleon III, Emperor of the French, was friendly to 
Southern independence, and would, doubtless, have gladly 
waged war against the United States, but the matter never 
reached that point. The surrender of Lee entirely changed 
the situation. American troops were marched toward the 



544 



Natiotial Development 



[§385 



Acquisition 
of Alaska, 
1867. 



Election of 
1868. 

Stanwood's 
Elections, 
ch. xxii. 



Fifteenth 
Amendment, 



Mexican border, and the French minister at Washington 
was reminded by Seward (1866) that the United States 
desired the removal of the French soldiers from Mexico; 
they were at once removed, but Maximilian remained. He 
was executed by the Mexicans, who then re-established a 
republican form of gov eminent. 

In 1867 the United c^iatto acquired a great addition of 
territory by the purchase of Alaska from Russia, for a little 
more than seven million dollars. This purchase added an 
immense tract of land to the national domain ; its value is 
not yet fully ascertained, but indications point to its great 
mineral resources. 

385. Election of 1868. — The Democratic candidate for 
the presidency in 1868 was Horatio Seymour. He had been 
governor of the state of New York, and had caused Lincoln 
much anxiety by his feeble support of the government's 
measures, and also by his open hostility displayed to some 
of them. In their platform the Democrats declared their 
approval of Johnson's plan of reconstruction. The Repub- 
licans nommated General Grant, and declared for the policy 
set forth in the reconstruction acts. Upon these platforms 
and with these candidates there could be httle doubt which 
side the voters of the North would take, nor could there be 
much doubt as to the preferences of those entitled to vote 
in the South. Virginia, Georgia, Mississippi, and Texas 
were still unreconstructed. The negroes formed the ma- 
jority of voters in the Southern states, and at this time their 
votes were counted. Out of two hundred and ninety-four 
electoral votes Grant received two hundred and fourteen. 

386. End of Reconstruction. — The Fourteenth Amendment 
was declared in force in July, 1868, and the election of Grant 
in the following November plainly indicated that the majority 
of the voters desired the completion of the process of re- 
construction, as embodied in the recent acts of Congress 
and in the Fourteenth Amendment. In February, 1869, 
Congress added one more safeguard to the negroes' rights 
as citizens by proposing the Fifteenth Amendment. This 



1 871] End of Reconstruction 545 

provided that neither the federal government nor any state 
government could abridge the rights of citizens of the 
IJnited States to the franchise " on account of race, color, 
,or previous condition of servitude." The ratification of 
this, as well as of the Fourteenth Amendment, was now 
made a condition of the readmission of Virginia, Mississippi, 
Texas, and Georgia to the Union. The Fifteenth Amend- 
ment was declared in force in March, 1870; but it was not 
until 1 87 1 that the last of the states which had passed seces- 
sion ordinances were restored to full rights. Meantime, 
since i860, Kansas, West Virginia, Nevada, and Nebraska 
had been added to the Union. There were now (1871) 
thirty-seven states in all. 

The Southern whites were determined to deprive the TheSouth- 
freedmen of the rights guaranteed to them by the amend- ^'""^'"5 and 

, r . 1 • r 1 • t"^ negroes, 

ments, and thus to defeat the object of the reconstruction 
acts. Banded together in secret societies, as the Ku-Klux, 
they whipped and cruelly ill-used the negroes to intimidate 
them into not usmg their right to vote. Congress, there- 
fore, was obhged to exercise the great powers conferred on 
it by the recent amendments. It passed several laws, known 
in the South as the " Force Bills." These provided suitable The Force 
penalties for the infraction of the amendments, and gave the ^'^'^■ 
federal courts exclusive jurisdiction of all such cases. By 
1872 the condition of affairs had so far improved that Con- 
gress repealed or modified some of the more severe of -these 
measures. It also passed an Amnesty Act relieving many 
classes of Southerners from the disabilities laid upon them 
by the amendments and the reconstruction acts. 

The Southern whites used every means to regain control 
of the Southern state governments, and ultimately suc- 
ceeded. There was much injustice done to the freedmen, 
and occasionally great disorder. Often two rival govern- 
ments contended for mastery ; the federal authorities were 
frequently obliged to interfere and to send soldiers to main- 
tain order. This discouraging condition of affairs con- 
tinued throughout Grant's two terms of office as President. 



546 National Development [§ 387 

The Treaty of 387. Relations with Great Britain. — The Northern peo- 
Washington, pjg }^^^ never forgotten the action of the British government 
at the time of the "Trent affair," nor its inaction as to the 
Alabama and other Confederate vessels. There were also 
other causes of irritation, especially a dispute as to the 
boundary in the extreme northwest, and as to the rights of 
American fishermen in Canadian waters. In 1869 Reverdy 
Johnson, the American minister in London, negotiated a 
treaty on these matters, which was promptly rejected by the 
United States Senate. The next year, however, the British 
government suggested that a joint commission should meet 
at Washington to arrange some of the matters in contro- 
versy. The American government consented, on condition 
that the "Alabama dispute" should also be considered. 
The commissioners met at the federal capital, and con- 
cluded the Treaty of Washington (1871). According to 
this instrument, the matters in controversy were referred to 
courts of arbitration or to joint commissions, with the excep- 
tion of the controversy as to the northwest boundary, which 
was referred to the German Emperor as arbiter. This last 
was in regard to the boundary from the mainland on the 
eastern side of Vancouver Sound to the Pacific Ocean at 
the western end of the Strait of Juan de Fuca. The point 
in dispute was especially over the ownership of St. Juan 
Island, which separated the two main channels. The matter 
was finally decided in favor of the United States (1872). 
The Ala- The " Alabama claims " included all the disputes which 

bamaArbi- j^^^j arisen out of the refusal of Great Britain to enforce 
the obligations of neutrals during the course of the Civil 
War. These were now referred to a court of arbitration, 
consisting of five members to be appointed, one each by the 
United States, Great Britain, Italy, Switzerland, and Brazil. 
The tribunal was authorized to proceed on the assumption 
that a neutral was obliged to use " due diligence " to pre- 
vent its territory being made the basis of hostile expeditions 
or armaments against one of the beUigerents ; but the British 
government was unwilling to admit that international prac- 



tration, 1872. 



1872] 



Political Uncertainty 



S47 



tice had imposed such obHgations at the time of the Civil 
War. When the tribunal met at Geneva (1872), the United 
States suggested that Great Britain should be held respon- 
sible not only for the direct loss occasioned by her lack of 
due diligence, but also for the indirect damage caused by 

the prolongation of the conflict so 

far as it could be attributed to the 
action of the Confederate cruisers. 
The court rejected this claim for in- 
direct damages, but held that the 
British government had not shown due 
diligence in permitting the escape of 
the Alabaina, and in allowing the 
Shenandoah to fill her bunkers with 
coal at Melbourne. The court awarded 
the United States fifteen and one half 
million dollars, the British representa- 
tative alone dissenting from this verdict. 
388. Political Uncertainty, 1868-76. 
— The speculative spirit aroused among 
the Northerners by the war, the great 
fortunes accumulated through the man- 
ufacturing industries fostered by high 
protective tariffs, and the gains made 
by the manipulation of railroad shares 
and bonds culminated in an era of 
activity unequaled in the history of the 
country. Every one endeavored to 
acquire wealth, by fair means if pos- 
sible ; but many went even further, and 
sought to gain riches by any means, whether fair or foul. 
Innumerable scandals came to light, extending from the high- 
est circles in the federal government to the rings and cliques 
which plundered cities and towns. Grant's personal honesty 
was beyond question, but he found that methods of appoint- 
ment suited to military life were entirely out of place in civil 
administration. One of the members of his cabinet was 






The Washington 
Monument 



Election of 
1872. 

Stanwood's 
Elections, 
ch. xxiii. 



548 



National Development 



[§389 



Election of 
1876. 

Stanwood's 
Elections, 
ch. xxiv. 



impeached for accepting bribes, but escaped punishment by 
retiring from office. The national Congress was popularly 
supposed to be honeycombed with corruption, but little 
could be proved against any individual members. Among 
the minor scandals, that of the "Tweed Ring" in New York 
attracted most attention ; but there is little doubt that the 
administration of other cities was tainted with corruption. 
All this wrongdoing worked against the Republican party, 
which was really responsible for only a little of it. Its failure 
to bring safety to the freedmen or peace to the South also 
alienated many of its supporters. This feeling of opposi- 
tion first found expression in the election of 1872, when 
many dissatisfied Republicans, styUng themselves " Liberal 
Republicans," nominated Horace Greeley for the presi- 
dency. The nomination was ratified by the Democratic 
convention of that year; but very many Democrats were 
unable to vote for one who had taken so radical an attitude 
during the war. Under these circumstances, Grant, the 
Republican candidate, was re-elected by a large majority 
of electoral votes ; but two years later the Democrats elected 
a majority of the House of Representatives (1874). 

389. Election of 1876. — Grant's second term came to 
a close on March 4, 1877. The campaign of the preceding 
year had been more fiercely contested than any election 
since i860. The Democrats had now accepted the policy 
of reconstruction, and there was slight difference between 
the two parties, so far as principles went, although the Dem- 
ocrats were more friendly to the South than were the Repub- 
licans. The latter nominated Rutherford B. Hayes of Ohio 
for President, and the Democrats chose for their candidate 
Samuel J. Tilden of New York, who had shown ability and 
honesty in the administration of state affairs. The election 
was very close, and finally turned on the votes of three 
Southern states, whose governments were still in an unsettled 
condition. The Constitution is exceedingly vague as to the 
process by which the electoral vote shall be ascertained. 
The Twelfth Amendment says : " The President of the Sen- 



1876] Election of 1876 549 

ate shall, in the presence of the Senate and the House of 
Representatives, open all the certificates and the votes shall 
then be counted." In 1876 the Senate was Republican 
and the President of the Senate was a Republican; the 
House of Representatives, on the other hand, was in the 
control of the Democrats. Two sets of certificates had been 
received from Louisiana, Florida, and South Carolina, and 
there was a controversy as to the vote of Oregon. If all 
these votes should be counted for the Republican candidate, 
he would be elected by a majority of one ; but if the votes 
of one only of these states should be thrown out or given to 
the Democratic nominee, the latter would be elected. Under 
these circumstances, it was most important to secure an im- 
partial count of the ballots ; but what man, or body of men, 
under the Constitution, had the authority to decide as to the 
validity of the disputed certificates? Was it the business of 
the President of the Senate? Or should it be confided to 
the Senate and House of Representatives sitting together 
or sitting apart ? Congress could come to no agreement on 
these points ; but both houses were able to agree to refer 
the matter to an extra-legal Electoral Commission of five The Eiecto- 
senators, five representatives, and five justices of the J^^jJ^'""'"'^' 
Supreme Court. It turned out that eight of the fifteen 
members of the commission were Republicans, and they 
voted together on every important question. On March 2, 
1877, the commission, by a vote of eight to seven, reported 
that Hayes was elected, and two days later he was inaugu- 
rated. 

390. A New Epoch, 1876. — The administration of Presi- 
dent Hayes marks the close of an epoch in the history of 
the United States. He removed the soldiers who still up- 
held the federal authority in two Southern states, and left 
the Southern people free to work out their new life as best 
they might. The old Southern leaders had regained con- 
trol of the Southern state governments, and had practically 
suppressed the poUtical privileges guaranteed to the freed- 
men. They were determined to retain political power in 



550 



National Development 



[§391 



Hayes's ad- 
ministration, 
1877-81. 




their own hands, but had no desire, or at least had no in- 
tention, to return to the slave system, or again to assert the 
doctrine of states' rights ; these two issues were dead in 
the South as they were in the North. The politics of the 
country were to turn on other issues in the future : the re- 
form of the civil ser- 
vice, the revision of the 
tariff, and the substitu- 
tion of silver for gold. 
On these issues there 
has been little difference 
in principle between 
the two great parties. 
The Democrats inher- 
ited from earlier days a 
desire for freer trade 
than existed under the 
war tariff, and perhaps 
would have rejoiced to 
see free trade estab- 
lished, while the Repub- 
licans, as a party, have argued for extreme protection. Both 
have supported civil service reform, especially when out of 
power. Until 1896, both parties favored the making of laws 
to put more silver money into circulation. 

391. Political History, 1877-96. — President Hayes 
began his administration under many disadvantages ; his 
election had been achieved by dubious methods, and the 
House of Representatives was in the hands of the Democrats, 
who were disposed to hamper him in every possible way. 
During the first two years of his term of office the number 
of dissatisfied Republicans steadily increased, and, in 1878, 
the Democrats gained control of the Senate while retain- 
ing their majority in the House. They made blunder after 
blunder, and the quiet, dignified administration of Hayes 
attracted many of the independent Republican voters back 
to their old party allegiance. In 1880 a determined at- 



^-V-rZ^-r^c*^^'-^'^^^^ 



i88o] 



Political History 



551 



tempt was made to nominate Grant for a third term, but Election of 
the traditional hmit of two terms was so firmly fixed in the ^^^°' 

■' Stanwood s 

nation's prejudices that even the " stalwart Republicans," Elections, 
as those favorable to a third term were called, were obliged ch. xxv. 
to yield. James A. Garfield of Ohio became the Republican 
candidate and was elected. The Democrats lost control of 
the House of Representatives also, and became so weak in 




Election of 1880 



the Senate that that body was generally equally divided 
between the two parties. 

Soon after his inauguration, Garfield was murdered by a Civil service 
disappointed office seeker, and Chester A. Arthur of New ''^^°'"'"- 
York, the Vice-President, succeeded to the chief magistracy. 
Garfield's death was so evidently due to the prevailing sys- 
tem of appointment to the civil service, that public attention 
was aroused to the evils attendant on the existing practice 
of political appointment. Arthur entered heartily into the 
scheme of civil service reform, and a beginning was made 



552 



National Development 



39» 



Election of 
1884. 

Stanwood's 
Elections, 
ch. xxvi. 



in the right direction. In 1884 the Republicans nominated 
one of the " stalwart " leaders, James G. Blaine, who was 
not trusted by a large number of men who usually voted for 
Republican candidates. They either abstained from voting 
or cast their ballots for Grover Cleveland of New York, the 
Democratic candidate, and he was elected. The Democrats 
also secured a majority in the House of Representatives. 
The new President extended the scope of the reform of 




Cleveland's 
administra- 
tion, 1885-89. 



Election of 1884 

the civil service, and something was done toward the 
revision of the tariff, in the direction of lower duties. 
Parties were evenly divided ; but the prominence of the 
old Southern element in the Democratic councils, and its 
lack of consideration for the business interests of the coun- 
try, turned away many Northern voters who had supported 
Cleveland. This feeling led to the election in 1888 of 
Benjamin Harrison of Indiana, the Republican candidate. 
The Republicans also secured control of Congress, and 



Civil Service Reform 553 

" reformed the tariff," as the phrase was, by largely increasing Politics, 

the duties. They also passed a law obliging the government iSSS-96- 

to buy a large amount of silver each month, and coin it into Elections, 

dollars, whose market value. as metal was about fifty-three ch. xxviiito 

cents in gold. Senator Sherman and Representative McKin- ^^^' ., 

, . 111. On silver 

ley of Ohio were the leaders m this policy. Industrial and legislation, 
business interests became alarmed, the government's revenues ^ee John- 
declined, and Grover Cleveland was again elected President f^^^^iy^' 
in 1892. Harrison had also extended the scope of the merit 296-366. 
system, and Cleveland, in his second term, again extended 
it. In Cleveland's time also the Sherman silver law was 
repealed, and the McKinley Tariff was modified toward 
lower rates. Cleveland, however, was not at all in harmony 
with the great mass of the Democratic voters. In 1896 the 
Democratic convention met at Chicago and nominated Wil- 
liam J. Bryan of Nebraska for the presidency, on a platform 
advocating the free coinage of silver and the institution of 
many changes in the direction of socialism. The Republi- 
cans, on the other hand, advocated the retention of the gold 
standard, and they also demanded the restoration of the 
protective system in its entirety. On this platform they 
nominated William McKinley of Ohio, who was elected. It 
will be well now to consider in a more connected way some 
of the leading topics in the political history of this period, 
and then to examine with care the condition of the country 
in the census year, 1900. 

392. Civil Service Reform, 1868-96. — The system of civil service 
appointing to office only the members of one's political reform, 
party was begun by the Federalists, accepted by the early Johnston's 
Republicans, and carried to its logical conclusion by Jack- Orations, iv, 
son and his successors. The people had paid slight atten- ^7-420. 
tion to the subject, however, until the scandals that came to Government, 
light in Grant's second term compelled their observation. 261. 
Any reform of the civil service is very difficult to accomplish, 
because no limitation can be placed upon the President's 
constitutional power of nomination. A reform of this nature 
also requires the appropriation of money for the payment of 



554 



National Development 



[§392 



Civil Service 
Commission, 
1868. 



The Pendle- 
ton Bill. 



expenses incurred in its prosecution, and this appropriation 
can only be made with the consent of both houses of Con- 
gress. The active co-operation of the executive and legis- 
lative branches of the government is therefore necessary to 
the beginning and prosecution of a reform of this kind. 

General Grant was most anxious to give the country a 
pure and efficient civil service. He willingly consented to 

have his power of 
nomination limited 
for the public good. 
Congress passed an 
act (1868) authoriz- 
ing the President to 
establish and admin- 
ister, through a Civil 
Service Commission, 
such rules for appoint- 
ment and promotion 
of civilian govern- 
mental employees as 
he might think desir- 
able. Grant at once 
acted on the authority 
conferred by this act ; 
but Congress was not bo mindful of its obligations. After 
three years of fairly successful trial, it refused to make the 
appropriations necessary to carry on the work of the Civil 
Service Commission, and this attempt to iaiprove political 
life came to an end (1874). 

Garfield's administration began with a fierce contest be- 
tween the President and the senators from New York. In 
the course of time, a custom had grown up of practically 
leaving to the senators from each state the final decision as 
to all appointments made in the states they represented. 
Garfield refused to accede to the wishes of the senators 
from New York as to the appointment to the most important 
federal office in that state, — the collectorship of customs in 




^ra^ 



.^^^.y/ 



1872J Taxation 555 

New York City. The two senators resigned and Garfield 
was murdered. The people awoke to the necessity of a 
reform in the mode of appointment to the civil service. 
Senator Pendleton of Ohio, a Democrat, introduced a bill 
authorizing the President again to estabhsh the merit system 
of appointment. Both the Senate and the House of Rep- 
resentatives were controlled by the Republicans ; but they 
accepted this law, and Garfield's successor, President Arthur, 
assented to it. The Civil Service Commission was again 
appointed and the reform was begun as to a few specified 
classes of officials. Gradually, successive presidents have 
enlarged the number of classes affected by the reform, until 
now by far the greater part of the civil service is organized 
on the merit system. 

393. Taxation. — The war left the country staggering 
under a heavy load of taxation : the internal revenue duties 
reached nearly every kind of expenditure, and the high pro- Reduction of 
tective duties greatly increased the cost of all manufactured '"'emal 

revenue 

articles. The internal revenue duties were reduced in num- duties. 
ber and in amount until, in 1872, they were practically 
abandoned, except as to beer, spirits, and tobacco. 

It will be remembered that the tariff rates had been in- Tariff policy, 
creased to counteract the effect of the internal revenue Johnston s 

,. - , T-/NX 11 Orations, IV. 

duties on manufactured commodities (p. 492). It would 238-269. 
appear reasonable, therefore, that, as the latter were reduced 
or abandoned, the former should be reduced at the same 
time. It is one of the peculiarities of the protective system, 
however, that a protective duty once imposed is very difficult 
to get rid of. Important interests become alarmed, and are 
able to advance an argument which undoubtedly has a good 
deal of force, — the threatened industry has been established 
or enlarged, and capital has been invested in a plant which 
would become useless were the industry to be destroyed. 
Working men and women are also keenly interested in the 
matter ; hundreds and thousands of workers have gained 
skill of the kind demanded by the industry which is threat- 
ened. If the law is repealed, these skilled work-people will 



556 



National Development 



[§393 



Tariff of 
1872. 



McKinley 
Tariff, 1890. 



be turned adrift, and they and those dependent upon them 
left to starve. These and similar arguments have practically 
operated to retain the war tariff to the present time, notwith- 
standing the repeal of the internal revenue laws. 

In 1872, when the internal revenue duties came to an 
end, Congress passed an act making a general ten per cent 
reduction on import duties; on several commodities, the 

duties were greatly low- 
ered ; for instance, that 
on salt was reduced one 
half, and the duty ori 
coal was lowered from 
one hundred and twenty- 
five per cent to seventy- 
five per cent ; other 
commodities, as hides, 
paper stock, and a few 
other raw materials for 
manufacturers' use, were 
placed on the free list, 
as were also tea and 
coffee. Two years later 
came the financial panic ; 
the revenue fell off, and 
Congress restored the ten per cent reduction, leaving the 
other reductions as they were. Nothing more was done 
until 1882, when a tariff commission was appointed to gather 
evidencCj and, on its report, a slight modification of the 
protective duties was made. In 1887 President Cleveland 
brought the matter prominently forward, and for a time it 
seemed as if something might be done ; but nothing of 
importance was done. 

During Harrison's administration, the Republicans gained 
control of both branches of Congress and proceeded to 
" reform " the tariff so as to make it more protective. Wil- 
liam McKinley was the chairman of the committee of the 
House of Representatives which had the subject in charge, 




^fJ-c-*^^/C-rr-*^^^^fX^ 



1807-60] The Cuban Question 557 

and the bill as passed is usually known as the " McKinley 
Tariff." It generally raised the rates on protected articles, 
and added others to the list. One feature of this law de- 
serves to be noted : the offer of reciprocity to those coun- 
tries which would favor American manufactures. The effect 
of this policy cannot be stated, for the law was in force for a 
short time only, as the act was repealed in Cleveland's sec- 
ond term. In its place was substituted a modified tariff, Wilson 
which made a slight approach toward freer trade. The Tarift 
actual effect of tariff legislation is difficult to discover. It is 
undeniable that great industrial progress was made under 
the low tariffs which were in force for the fifteen years pre- 
ceding the Civil War ; it is also beyond question that the 
industrial progress has been enormous in the thirty-five 
years since Lincoln's inauguration under higher tariffs ; and 
it is certain that the prices of the principal articles of con- 
sumption of the great mass of the people were no higher in 
1896 under a high tariff than they were in i860 under the 
lowest tariff the country has had since 1816. 

In November, 1896, the Republican candidate for the Election of 
Presidency was William McKinley of Ohio, and the Demo- ^^96- 
cratic candidate was William J. Bryan of N ebraska. The cam- 
paign was fought mainly on the question of whether gold or 
silver should be the standard of value in the United States. 
McKinley stood for the gold basis and won. In March, 
1900, Congress passed a law making gold the standard of 
value and repealing the silver legislation of the preceding 
years, 

394. The Cuban Question, 1807-60. — Ever since the Cuban 
beginning of the century Cuba and the Cuban people have relations. 
had a peculiar interest for the American nation. The island 
is surpassingly fertile and contains rich mineral deposits. Its 
position forbids its occupation by any strong foreign power. 
Its command of the Caribbean Sea makes American control 
of it almost a military necessity. Its unceasing misgovern- 
ment has often angered our people and has frequently given 
rise to disputes with Spain. As long ago as 1807 Jefferson 



558 



National Development 



[§ 395 



Jefferson and 
Monroe on 
annexation. 



"The 

Ostend 

Manifesto,' 

1854. 

American 

History 

Leaflets, 

No. 2. 



Cuba, 



suggested that " probably Cuba would add itself to our con- 
federation in case of a war with Spain." In 1823 Monroe 
declared that Cuba would be " the most interesting addi- 
tion" to the United States. In 1845 ^^e American govern- 
ment offered to pay one hundred million dollars for the 
island. The Spaniards replied that they would prefer to see 
it " sunk in the ocean." Three years later, to another offer, 
they replied that " to part with Cuba would be to part with 
national honor." Americans interested in annexation then 
fitted out expeditions to stir up rebellions in the island. 
But the American government stopped that proceeding. 
Foreign powers, however, were alarmed. England and 
France asked the United States to join with them in a guar- 
antee of the island to Spain. But the American government 
refused to be a party to any such agreement, because, under 
some circumstances, its possession " might be essential to our 
safety" (1852). Two years later the American ministers 
to England, France, and Spain joined in the " Ostend 
Manifesto," suggesting annexation by force on the ground 
that the United States could " never enjoy repose, nor pos- 
sess reliable security, as long as Cuba is not embraced within 
its boundaries." The possession of Cuba became a recog- 
nized part of Democratic policy and was favored in the 
platforms of both the Breckenridge and Douglas Democrats 
in i860. 

395. Causes of the Spanish "War. — Since the close of the 
Civil War the misgovernment of Cuba has attracted ever 
increasing attention. In 1867 the Cubans rebelled. Year 
after year the insurrection, with its horrible tale of pillage and 
murder, continued. At length, in 1877, President Grant in- 
terfered to effect a separation of the island from its tyrannical 
masters. Spain at once made concessions which induced 
the insurgents to lay down their arms. These concessions 
were never honestly carried into effect. In 1894 another 
rebellion broke out. Again "heartrending tales of cruelty 
reached the United States. The government did everything 
possible to prevent assistance being sent to the insurgents. 



S6o 



National Development 



[§39S 



Destruction 
of the 
Maine, 
February, 
1898. 



Spain 
ordered to 
withdraw, 
April 19, 
1898. 



The conditions of the Cubans became worse and worse. On 
January 5, 1898, the battleship Maine anchored in Havana 
harbor to safeguard American interests. On February 15 
she was blown up from outside, and sank with two hundred 
and fifty-three of her crew. An inquiry was at once begun. 
March 7 Congress placed fifty million dollars in President 
McKinley's hands for national defense. The substance of 
the report of the Board of Inquiry was made public on 
March 21. A week later McKinley sent the full report to 
Congress, with the statement that it had been communicated 
to the Spanish government that the Spaniards might take 
such action as should be " suggested by honor and the 
friendly relations of the two governments." Spain replied 
by proposing that the matter should be referred to arbitra- 
tion. Events now marched rapidly on. Unless the United 
States intervened, it was evident that the extermination of 
the Cuban people would go on until the peace " of the 
wilderness and the grave " should leave none to resist. Re- 
plying to the foreign ambassadors, McKinley declared : "The 
chronic condition of disturbance there [in Cuba] so deeply 
injures the interests and menaces the tranquillity of the Ameri- 
can nation by the character and consequences of the struggle 
thus kept at our door, besides shocking its sentiment of 
humanity," that its " indefinite prolongation . . . has become 
insufferable." April 19 Congress passed resolutions assert- 
ing (i) that the people of Cuba are and of right ought to 
be free and independent ; (2) that it is the duty of the 
United States to demand the withdrawal of Spain from the 
island ; (3) that the President is authorized to compel 
Spain's withdrawal ; and (4) that the United States has no 
intention to absorb Cuba, but is determined " to leave the 
government and control of the island to its people." April 
20 a final proposition setting forth this decision was cabled 
to General Woodford, American minister at Madrid. But 
before he could present it, he was informed by the Spanish 
government that diplomatic relations had come to an end. 
Sentiment in the United States was divided on this matter, 



The War on ike Sea 



561 



as on other matters. Seeing that Spanish rule in Cuba could The 
not be longer allowed, many persons held that war was cer- American 
tain. They thought, however, that the United States should united, 
choose its own time and mode of attack. Above all, they 
thought that, if possible, the army and navy should be placed 
on a war footing and properly armed and drilled before war 
was begun. They especially deplored the necessity of send- 
ing American soldiers to Cuba during the hot season. Some 
persons even believed the 
war to be unjustifiable ; but 
they were few in number. 
War once declared, the whole 
nation, with scarcely an ex- 
ception, prepared energeti- 
cally to support the govern- 
ment. The people of the 
North and of the South, of 
the East and of the West, 
united heartily to do their 
duty to their country and 
their flag. The last appear- 
ance of sectional divisions 
ceased. Moreover, it soon 

was seen that now, after more than one hundred years of 
discord, the interests of the United States and of Great 
Britain were at last the same. 

396. The War on the Sea. — The President at once de- 
clared a blockade of portions of the Cuban coast. At the 
outbreak of the war the Asiatic fleet under Admiral Dewey The victory 
was at Hong-Kong. Sailing thence on the declaration of 
war, it entered Manila Bay in the early morning of May i. 
The Spanish fleet in the PhiHppines was found lying under 
the guns of the arsenal at Cavite (Ca-vee'-tay), a few miles 
from the city of Manila. Dewey at once opened fire, and in 
a few hours destroyed or captured the whole Spanish fleet. 
No American ship was seriously injured. No American sailor 
was killed and only six were wounded. The Spaniards 




George Dewey 



at Manila, 
May I, i£ 



562 



National Development 



[§396 



The lask of 
Sampson 
and Schley. 




W. T. Sampson 



The navy in 
the West 
Indies. 



lost hundreds in killed, wounded, and missing. Dewey now 
had the city of Manila at his mercy. But he could not 
spare enough men from his ships to maintain order in the 

city, when captured, and to 
defend it from attack on the 
side away from the water. 
He blockaded it and awaited 
the coming of soldiers, who 
were speedily sent from the 
United States under General 
Merritt. 

Admiral Sampson, in com- 
mand of the North Atlantic 
fleet, and Admiral Schley, in 
command of a " flying squad- 
ron " stationed at Fortress 
Monroe, had a more difficult 
part to perform. With the assistance of a coast patrol they 
had to protect the Atlantic seaboard, to guard any transports 
with soldiers that might be sent to the West Indies, to block- 
ade Cuba, and to destroy any fleet that Spain might send to 

this side of the Atlantic. 
To do this they had the 
regular naval vessels, small 
in number, but each excel- 
lent of its kind. Vessels 
were bought, turned into 
cruisers, dispatch boats, and 
transports. The many vessels 
added to the navy required 
thousands of sailors to man 
them. Fortunately many 
states had naval militia. 
These men at once volun- 
teered, and with the regular seamen rendered splendid service. 
With the Spanish vessels already in American waters 
Sampson and Schley had no trouble. The smaller vessels 




W S. Schley 




Battleship Iowa m Dry Docic 



564 



National Development 



[§396 



Cervera s 
fleet 

destroyed, 
Julys, 1898. 



of the American fleet were able to destroy such of them as 
ventured to leave port. But Spain possessed half-a-dozen 
modern armored cruisers, of high speed and heavily armed. 
Four of them, with three sea-going torpedo boats, were sent 
across the Atlantic under Admiral Cervera (thar-va-ra) . 
For a time he eluded the search of the American com- 
manders and then entered the harbor of Santiago de Cuba. 
There he was immediately blockaded by the combined fleets 
of Sampson and Schley. The Americans had four battle 
ships, the Iowa, Indiana, Massachusetts, and Texas, and two 
armored cruisers, the New York and Brooklyn. To them, 
while Cervera was sailing around the Caribbean Sea, came 
the Oregon. This battleship was built on the Pacific coast. 
When the Maine was destroyed, the Oregon was ordered to 
make the best of her way to the Atlantic seaboard. Week 
after week she steamed through the Pacific, passed the Straits 
of Magellan, and sailed up the eastern coast of South 
America, reaching Key West after the most splendid voyage 
ever made by a battleship. She at once took her place in 
the fighting line. 

Santiago harbor is long ; its entrance is blocked by huge 
mountainous masses, through which a narrow strait leads to 
the sea. It occurred to Lieutenant Hobson that a vessel, 
the Merrijtiac, might be sunk across this narrow opening. If 
this were done, the Spanish fleet could not pass the entrance, 
elude the blockading squadron, and escape to sea. With 
six companions he carried out his hazardous scheme. But 
the Spaniards disabled the Merrimac and she was sunk too 
far in completely to block the channel. The heroism of this 
deed appealed strongly to gallant Admiral Cervera. He 
greeted Hobson warmly, and at once sent a boat to the block- 
aders to assure them that Hobson and his men were alive. 
Sampson and Schley agreed that the dangers of entering the 
harbor were too great to permit them to risk their vessels in 
the narrow channel. They could not get at Cervera's ships. 
It became necessary to capture Santiago and drive the Span- 
ish ships out or sink them by batteries from the shore. An 



The Land Campaigns 



565 



army under General Shafter was quickly sent to Santiago. 
But, before Shafter captured the city, Cervera suddenly put 
to sea, Sunday, July 3. The American ships cleared for 
action. The Spanish vessels steered to the westward and a 
running fight took place. Soon the cruiser Maria Theresa 
was disabled and set on fire. Then followed in rapid succes- 
sion the destruction of the torpedo boats and of the cruisers 
Almiranie Oquendo and Viscaya. One cruiser, the Cristobal 
Colon, maintained the sea for a few hours, because she was 
so fast. But she too was finally forced to surrender and 
was sunk by her crew before the American sailors could take 
possession. A whole fleet was thus destroyed in a few hours, 
hundreds of seamen were killed, wounded, and drowned. 
About sixteen hundred m^n were captured. And all this at 
the cost of one American killed and two wounded ! More- 
over, the American ships were practically uninjured. 

Meantime Spain had sent a few warships through the Suez Another 
Canal. It was said that they were to go to the Philippines ^P^"'sh 
to dispute for those islands with Admiral Dewey's fleet. 
But the news of the destruction of Cervera's vessels and the 
threat to send an American squadron to Spain induced the 
Spanish government to order them to return to Spain. 

Such in brief is the story of the principal doings of the The lessons. 
American navy. Never, perhaps, in the history of the world, 
has sea power so forcibly and so completely asserted itself. 
The lesson is one full of instruction to the American people. 
Furthermore, in all these naval operations, in the creation of 
a whole fleet of blockaders and cruisers, in caring for the 
health of the men, and in fighting the enemy, there was not 
one false step. 

397. The Land Campaigns. — As soon as war was declared, Organization 
President McKinley called for volunteers, and later he issued 
a second call. In all, over two hundred thousand volunteers 
were mustered into the service. Veterans of the Civil War, 
on both sides of that terrible strife, furnished excellent offi- 
cers. Oftentimes, however, inexperienced men were placed 
in charge of companies and regiments. The result was soon 



of the 
army. 



566 



National Development 



[§397 



Santiago 
expedition. 




Nelson A. Miles 



apparent in the terrible state of the health of the soldiers 
of many regiments. Furthermore, the army had no great 

magazines filled with modern 
weapons and modern muni- 
tions of war. Volunteer regi- 
ments were armed with old- 
fashioned weapons, which 
placed them at great disad- 
vantage with the Spaniards. 
Young men of all walks of 
life eagerly offered their 
services. Militia regiments 
volunteered in bulk or most 
of the members of such 
regiments were enrolled in 
new regiments with the same 
designation. The regular army was recruited to its full 
strength and brought to the east. The first active service 

in the field was in the 
Santiago campaign. 

The navy held Cervera 
blockaded in Santiago har- 
bor ; but it was necessary 
to send an army to capture 
Santiago. On June 22 and 
23 fifteen thousand men 
under General W. R. Shafter 
landed on the coast not far 
to the east of the entrance 
to the harbor. Most of these 
soldiers were regulars. But 
there were several volun- 
teer regiments, among them 
Roosevelt's " Rough Riders." They, as well as the regular 
cavalry, fought on foot. June 24 the cavalry and " Rough 
Riders," advancing toward Santiago, came across the 
Spaniards, and a hot skirmish took place. In the end the 




Wesley Merritt 



The Land Campaigns 



567 



enemy was driven away. The roads were poor. The coun- 
try was rough. The heat was terrible. To add to all these 
obstacles the rains set in. Nevertheless the heroic little 
army pressed forward, and by June 28 was within three 
or four miles of the city. On July i Caney and San Juan 
(san-hwan) two strongly fortified hills, were carried by 
assault. The American loss was heavy, for the soldiers 
were obliged to charge across valleys and up steep hills in 
face of a murderous fire from the Spaniards stationed in 
blockhouses and in rifle pits. Reinforcements were hurried 
to Shafter's aid. On July 3 Cervera's fleet, which might 
have seriously interfered with 
the Americans, put to sea and 
was destroyed. The lines 
were now drawn around the 
city until the intrenchments 
stretched for eight miles. 
The Cuban insurgents blocked 
the roads by which reinforce- 
ments might reach the city. 
The warships threw shells 
over the hills, and guns were 
placed in position, command- 
ing the defenses. The garri- 
son surrendered on condition 
of being transported to Spain 
at the expense of the United States. With the soldiers 
actually in Santiago were surrendeied others in outlying 
garrisons in eastern Cuba. July 17 Shafter entered the city. 
The surrender came in good time, for the condition of 
the American soldiers was deplorable. Clad in clothes un- 
suited to the climate, fed on food equally unsuited to the 
climate, and often not fed at all, the men stood hour after 
hour ankle deep in mud, — sometimes knee deep in water, 
— exposed to the sun and the rain. At night they slept on 
the water-soaked ground without shelter from the evening 
mists. Fevers attacked them, and those who recovered 




W R. Shafter 



Condition 
of the 
soldiers. 



568 



National Developtnent 



[§397 



Invasion of 
Porto Rico. 




were often too weak 
to resist ordinary dis- 
eases and the terrible 
scourge of Cuba, — 
yellow fever. Other 
regiments were sent to 
take their places, and 
the heroes of Santiago 
were brought north 
to a camp on Long 
Island. 

Cervera's fleet de- 
stroyed, and Santiago 
captured, General Nel- 
son A. Miles, a veteran 
of the Civil War and 
now commanding the 
United States army, 
led an expedition to 
Porto Rico, an island 
of abounding fertility 
and of great wealth. 
Instead of landing near 
San Juan, the fortified 
capital of the island, 
he disembarked 
(August i) near Ponce 
(pon-tha) on the other 
side of the island, and 
the most important 
town of Porto Rico. 
Hardly a fight oc- 
curred. The Spanish 
troops withdrew and 
the inhabitants warmly 
welcomed the in- 
vaders. The Ameri- 



Cojichision of Hostilities 569 

cans, admirably led, pressed on across the island, when the 
approach of peace stopped the further armed invasion. 

As soon as the news of Dewey's brilliant victory was The fall of 
received, preparations were begun to send him the soldiers Manila, 
that he needed to capture and hold Manila. The command igqf"^ 
of the army was given to General Wesley Merritt, a great 
soldier, who, like Miles, had rendered distinguished service 
in the Civil War. It proved to be very difficult to secure 
suitable transports on the Pacific coast. As fast as troops 
and transports could be got ready, they were sent from 
San Francisco. The first expedition left California on 
May 25. But it was the end of July before the land attack 
on Manila was begun. Meantime the insurgents, for there 
were insurgents in the Philippines as well as in Cuba, were 
blockading the city on the land side, while Dewey blockaded 
it from the water. July 3 1 the Spaniards suddenly attacked 
the American lines in the darkness of the night. After a 
hard fight, in which both regulars and volunteers did splendid 
work, the enemy was beaten off with heavy loss. Finally, 
on August 13, after more troops had arrived, Dewey and 
Merritt made a joint attack. The city surrendered after a • 
slight resistance. 

398. Conclusion of Hostilities. — July 26 the French Signing of 
ambassador at Washington, on behalf of Spain, inquired the protocol, 

. 1 , 1 •, ^n^^ ^ ^^ l AugUStll, 

upon what terms peace might be had, 1 he President stated jg^g. 
the conditions. ' After some delay on the part of Spain these 
terms were set down in a preliminary agreement or protocol, 
as it is termed by the diplomatists. This agreement was 
signed August 11. It provided in brief (i) that Spain shall 
relinquish all claim of sovereignty and title to Cuba and cede 
to the United States Porto Rico and all other Spanish West 
India islands and an island in the Ladrones. (2) The city, 
bay, and harbor of Manila to be held by the Americans 
until a final agreement as to the Philippines shall be made. 
(3) Hostilities shall immediately cease. The President at 
once issued a proclamation directing the American armies 
to cease further aggressive operations. 



570 



National Development 



L§398 



Annexation 
of Hawaii, 
1898. 



The 

Revenue 

Act. 



The war 
loan. 



Meantime the Manila campaign had shown the strategic 
importance of Hawaii. Before this, indeed, Hawaii and 
the other Sandwich Islands had attracted attention in the 
United States. American capital is largely invested in sugar 
and other plantations in those islands, and the white men 
are generally of American parentage. For many years the 
natives and the whites lived happily together. But in time 
less wise rulers succeeded. Successful rebellion was the re- 
sult. A republic was instituted and annexation to the United 
States proposed. For some time the matter remained un- 
decided, but in July, 1898, Hawaii was declared annexed by 
joint resolution. This provided for the appointment of a 
commission of five, of whom at least two should be resident 
Hawaiians. This commission shall recommend to Congress 
such legislation as may seem advisable. Until Congress 
shall pass legislation of this kind the government of the 
islands shall be carried on as the President from time to 
time may direct. There are forty-five thousand Chinese and 
Japanese in the islands, forty thousand native Hawaiians, 
and only five thousand English speakers. Captain Mahan, 
the greatest authority on naval strategy, has stated that the 
possession of these islands is essential for our protection. 
With Hawaii in our hands, few nations can attack the Pacific 
coast of the United States. 

Plainly the fifty million dollars would not long support 
active war. Other measures were necessary ; new taxes 
were provided and a loan was authorized. The new taxes 
contained, among others, provisions for annual taxes to be 
paid by bankers, brokers, theatrical managers ; stamps must 
be affixed to bank checks, stocks and bonds, public telephone 
messages, telegrams, and patent medicines ; also legacies 
were taxed, and the tax on beer was increased. These 
taxes were very successful and, at one tune, brought in two 
hundred million dollars a year. The Secretary of the Treas- 
ury asked for public subscriptions to a loan of two hundred 
million three-per-cent bonds at par. Subscriptions were 
received for as small amounts as twenty dollars. The 



I goo] 



Population 



571 



amount subscribed was nearly fourteen hundred millions. 
The year 189 7-1 898 was one of great prosperity. Espe- 
cially foreign trade increased, exports reaching the enormous 
total of twelve hundred million dollars. Of this total more 
than three hundred million dollars was in manufactured 
goods. The largest single export was grain. Indeed, so 
prosperous was the country, that the pressure of the war 
was scarcely felt. 

On December 10, 1898, American and Spanish com- 
missioners signed a treaty of peace at Paris. Following 
the terms of the protocol (p. 569) Spain gave up all claim 
to sovereignty in Cuba and ceded Porto Rico and other 
smaller islands to the United States. Before news of the 
signing of the protocol could reach the Philippines the 
American soldiers, aided by the fleet, captured Manila. It 
was now arranged that Spain should cede the whole Philip- 
pine group to the United States and should receive twenty 
million dollars. For a time the inhabitants of the Philippine The 
Islands, or some of them, desired to be an independent Philippines 
nation and resisted the armed forces of the United States. 
By 1902, however, peace was estabhshed throughout the 
islands. 

It will be remembered that the United States came into 
the possession of Cuba under a pledge to give independence 
to the people of that island. This did not prove to be 
possible at once and for some years military government 
was in force there, first under General John R. Brooke and 
later under Major General Leonard A. Wood. In 1902, 
however, the United States troops were withdrawn and the 
island was turned over to its inhabitants under certain restric- 
tions as to its government and relations with other nations. 
In 1904 arrangements were completed for giving trade 
advantages to the Cubans. 

399. Population, 1900. — Since i860 the population has Numbers. 
more than doubled, and is given in the census of 1900 as 
seventy-six millions; in 1880 it was fifty millions. The 
estimate for 1900 includes Alaska but does not include the 



Cuba, 
1898-1904. 



572 National Development [§ 399 

Philippines, Porto Rico, Hawaii, and other islands ; adding 
these to the continental part of the United States, the total 
population is estimated at about eighty-five millions. Dur- 
ing the Civil War immigration fell off, but as soon as peace- 
ful conditions again prevailed foreigners began to come into 
Immigration, the country in increased numbers. In the ten years ending 
with 1900, nearly four million immigrants entered the United 
States. This was a smaller number than came in the ten 
years preceding 1890, but since 1900 the number has again 
risen — no less than eight hundred and fifty-seven thou- 
sand coming in the year 1903. In 1900 there were ten 
million foreigners living in the country ; these formed nearly 
fourteen per cent of the population. The Germans were 
the most numerous of any one race with two and one half 
millions, the English with the Norwegians and the Swedes 
numbered rather less than two millions, — a total Germanic 
foreign-born population of nearly four and one half milHons. 
The Celtic foreign-born population was nearly two millions, 
of whom the Irish formed more than one and one half 
million ; the remainder being immigrants from Scotland and 
Wales. There are also more than one million Canadians 
living in the United States ; they are partly of English and 
partly of French extraction, but many of them are immi- 
grants from Europe who have tried Canada before finally 
coming to the United States. It may be said, as the result 
of this study of the census figures, that immigrants of Ger- 
manic and Celtic stocks form over three quarters of the 
total foreign-born population of the country. It should be 
noted, however, that Italians, Bohemians, Hungarians, and 
Russians have thronged to the United States in recent 
years, no less than one half million landing in the year 1903. 
The conditions of living in the South still prevent immi- 
gration to that region, although there is some improvement 
in this respect : out of the ten million immigrants whose 
parentage we have just been noting, less than one half 
million dwell in the old slave states. These are the figures 
as given in the official tables, but many of those who are 



1890] Population 573 

here enumerated among the foreign-born residents of the 
United States are only temporary residents. Hardy fishermen 
come from the Maritime Provinces of Canada every spring 
to man the fishing vessels of New England ; other Cana- 
dians come to work in the fields and the mills of the North. 
Many of these fishermen, laborers, and mill hands return 
home in the autumn, and others remain for a year or two 
only ; they all appear in the tables as residents. Moreover, 
many Canadian fishermen and laborers come to the United 
States summer after summer, counting each time as one 
immigrant ; in this way one man may often be represented 
in the tables as ten or more immigrants. The same thing is 
true of the Italians, who frequently return home for the win- 
ter or after a few years of toil ; these, too, appear in the 
lists as immigrants, while, as a matter of fact, they are rather 
to be classed as visitors. But when every deduction has 
been made, the constant influx of immigrants has been one 
of the chief factors in our prosperity. They have made 
possible the building of our railroads, mills, and warehouses ; 
they perform much of the work required in running our. 
mills, and our great agricultural and grazing establishments ; 
they descend into our mines and make accessible the mineral 
wealth of the country. In short, the value of the work done 
by immigrants in building up American industries has been 
enormous ; and it should never be underestimated in a con- 
sideration of the forces which have made the United States 
what it is. Many persons think, however, that the time has 
now come when some limitation should be placed on immi- 
gration. 

400. Distribution of Population, Area, etc. — The settled Distribution 

area of the continental United States has increased from a of popula- 
tion, 
little over one million square miles in i860 to two million 

square miles in 1900. At the same time the urban popula- 
tion has greatly increased : in i860 about sixteen per cent 
of the people were gathered in cities and towns; in 1890 
thirty-three per cent of the population was classed as urban. 
The great cities have all grown. New York, including The cities. 



574 



National Development 



[§ 400 



Brooklyn, contained in 1900 nearly three and one half mil- 
lion inhabitants, or more than the total population of the 
United States at the close of the Revolutionary War. It is 
now the second city in the world in point of numbers, being 
exceeded only by London. The growth of Chicago has 
been startling ; in thirty years its population increased ten- 
fold, numbering over one and one half million in 1900; it 
is now the second city in the United States and the fifth in 
the world. The population of Philadelphia has also doubled 
in thirty years, and stood at over a million in 1900. 

The center of population has been affected by both the 
circumstances just noted : the increase of the settled area, 
mainly in the West, and the great increase in the urban popu- 



~ rti*AS "r -.">" 




Center of 
population. 



Expansion of 
the railroad 
svstem. 



The Brooklyn Bridge 

lation, which has been confined mainly to the states east of 
the Mississippi. In thirty years the point denoting the cen- 
ter of population has moved westward more than one hun- 
dred and fifty miles, and was near Columbus, Indiana, in 
1900. It should be noted, however, that its westward move- 
ment in the decade ending in 1900 was less than in any 
other decade since the taking of the first census in 1790. 
Indeed, the increase in the population of the country east 
of Indiana has been so much greater than the growth of 
population west of that state, that the center of population 
is now practically stationary. 

401. Transportation, 1900. — Hand in hand with this 
great development in population, this growth of cities, and 
this increase of cultivated land, the railroads have multiplied 
until the United States contained in 1900 one half of the 




Density of Population, 1900 
575 



5/6 



National Development 



[§401 



Regulation 
of railroad 
rates. 



railroad mileage of the world. In i860 there were thirty 
thousand miles of railway in the United States; in 1900 
there were nearly two hundred thousand miles. With this 
great expansion of the railway system, the service has con- 
stantly been improved. Charges for the transportation of 
passengers and freight have enormously decreased, and with 
them rates on water transportation have also decHned. In 
1880, for example, it cost nineteen cents to carry a bushel 

of wheat from Chicago 
to New York by rail ; in 
1900 it cost less than 
ten cents. 

These low rates were 
possible, of course, only 
in those sections of the 
country where there was 
an enormous traffic ; in 
those portions of the 
country which were re- 
cently settled, or were 
devoted mainly to agri- 
culture, the railroad com- 
panies could not carry 
goods on such favorable 
terms. This was espe- 
cially true in the purely 
agricultural states of the 
Northwest. The farmers 
of those regions banded together into societies termed 
"granges," and sought, by legislation, to compel the rail- 
roads to lower their charges to rates which would not repay 
the cost of transportation. This " granger legislation," as it 
was called, compelled the roads to diminish expenses in 
every way. It resulted in a great decrease in the efficiency 
of the service, and put an end to railroad building in those 
portions of the country. 

The relations of the railroad corporations to the people 




I goo] 



Industrial Dcvelotmejit 



S77 



also aroused attention in the East, especially in Massa- 
chusetts, where a railroad commission was instituted by act 
of the state legislature. At first the functions of this body 
were largely conciliatory and advisory ; the system worked 
well for both the people and the railroads, and, as time went 
on, the powers of the commission were enlarged. Other 
states acted on similar lines, and, in 1887, the Federal 
Congress established a national commission to regulate 
interstate commerce. This last commission has authority 
to prohibit discriminating rates, the " pooling " of trafinc, 
and the division of receipts. These processes had been 
resorted to by the great railway systems to avoid compe- 
tition, and worked to the undue favoring of large shippers 
of goods and large centers of traffic. The Interstate Com- 
merce Commission has accomplished some good, though less 
than its promoters expected. The tendency of recent years 
has been to join together in great corporations or trusts the 
railroad systems of the several sections. 

Most of the effects of the marvelous change produced by 
steam transportation have been confined to the northeastern 
section of the country : one half of the passenger railway 
movement of the United States is in the region east of 
the Alleghanies and north of the Potomac ; another quarter 
is confined to the four states of Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, 
and Illinois — in other words, three quarters of the whole 
movement is east of the Mississippi and north of the Poto- 
mac and the Ohio ; the South contributes but one eighth 
and the country west of the Mississippi to the Pacific gives 
the rest. The cause of the industrial activity in the north- 
eastern states indicated by these figures is to be found in the 
great development of manufacturing, milling, and mining 
industries in that region. 

402. Industrial Development, 1860-1900. — In i860 the 
manufactured products of the United States were valued at 
slightly over four billion dollars; in 1900 the estimate had risen 
to over thirteen bilhon dollars, — the United States then ex- 
ceeding in the total value of its manufactures every foreign 



Interstate 
Commerce 
Commission, 
188/. 



Analysis of 

railroad 

business. 



Manufactur- 
ing indus- 
tries. 



578 National Development [§ 404 

country, and also in the value of manufactured articles in 
proportion to the total population. This expansion is only 
partially shown by the increase in value of the manufactured 

Iron. product, as prices of these commodities have very materially 

declined since i860. The most remarkable case of growth 
in this period is seen in the iron and steel industries. The 
amount of pig iron produced in i860 was less than one 
miUion tons; in 1880 it had risen to over four milUon tons, 
and in 1900 to over thirteen million tons. In 1890 Great 
Britain, which had heretofore been the largest producer of 
iron in the world, fell behind, and took second place. The 

SteeL increase in the production of steel has been even greater : 

in 1865 it was thirteen thousand tons, in 1880 it was over 
one million tons, and in 1900 it was over ten miUion tons. 
This remarkable growth has been due to several causes, 
among which may be mentioned the cheapening of the cost 
of pig iron by improvements in the construction of the blast 
furnaces, which have brought about great economies in the 
use of fuel. The application of scientific methods, espe- 
cially the Bessemer process, and the use of improved appli- 
ances in every stage of production, have greatly contributed 
to this marvelous result, which has been made possible by 
the access to the great markets of the United States without 
fear of foreign competition. Indeed, it is not at all unlikely 
that in the near future steel will be produced in America at 
a lower cost than in either Great Britain or Germany, not- 
withstanding the comparatively low wages which operatives 
earn in those countries. 

Agricultural 403. Agricultural Development, 1860-1900. — This increase 

industries. jj^ productive capacity has not been confined to manufactur- 
ing and mining industries ; there has also been an extraordi- 
nary development in agricultural production. The area 
under cultivation has doubled since the Civil War, and the 
application of better methods has also greatly affected the 
cultivation of the more important staples. For years agri- 
culture was carried on by poor and wasteful methods, but 
lately the apphcation of scientific methods in large sections 



1890] 



Prosperity 



579 



of the country has enabled the cultivator to win larger re- 
turns from his land, although not so large proportionate 
returns from the application of labor and capital to the land. 
The ruder system of the earlier time was better suited to the 
conditions then prevailing — a fact which foreign critics have 
invariably overlooked. They always forget that the problem 
which the Western farmer had to face until recent years was 
how much he could get in return for a given amount of 
effort, and not how much he could gain from a certain 
•amount of land by the application of labor and capital. 
Land was then abundant and easy to acquire, while labor 
and capital were both scarce and difficult to obtain. In 
1865 the United States produced about one billion bushels 
of corn ; in 1890 it produced two and one half billion 
bushels. The largest crop of cotton produced by slave 
labor (1859) was about four and one half million bales; in 
1899, under free labor, the crop was over eleven million 
bales. 

404. Prosperity, 1900. — The national income and ex- 
penditures have increased out of all proportion to the popu- 
lation. The income of the federal government in i860 was 
fifty-five million dollars, — in 1900 it was over five hundred 
and sixty-seven million dollars; the expenditures in i860 
were sixty-five million dollars, — in 1900 they were four 
hundred and eighty-seven million dollars. The exports and 
imports more than doubled in the forty years under review, 
and amounted to about two thousand millions each, in 1900 
the exports exceeded the imports by five hundred millions. 

The national debt of the United States in 1900 was nearly National 
eleven hundred million dollars, or twelve dollars per head. "^^'^'• 
This total includes the paper money issued by the govern- 
ment and the interest-bearing debt. The aggregate debt 
of the several states, counties, municipalities, and school 
districts now exceeds that of the nation as a whole ; in 1900 
the former was over one bilHon dollars, or a little over eigh- 
teen dollars per head. It will be interesting in this connec- 
tion to cite a few figures by way of comparison. They are 
compiled from the " World Almanac " for 1906 : — 



National in- 
come and 
expendi- 
tures. 



58o 



National Development 



[§ 405 





Millions of 






Country 


Dollars 


Area 
(Square Miles) 


Population 


Wealth 


National 
Debt 


United States 


100,000 


925 


3,602,990 

(Including Islands 

3,756,884) 


83,609,000 

(Including Islands 

92,500,000) 


Great Britain 


58,000 


3885 


120,379 


41.605,177 


(Not including India 










and the colonies) 










Germany 


40,000 


698 


208,830 


56,367.178 


France 


42,000 


5856 


207,054 


39,118,995 


Russia 


35,000 


3414 


8,660,395 

(Includes Siberia 
and Central Asia) 


129,004,514 


Austria-Hungary 


20,000 


7107 


261,035 


46.973059 


Italy 


1 3,000 


2560 


110,550 


32,475,253 



The banking capital of the United States exceeds that of 
Great Britain and there is more gold in the United States than 
in Great Britain. The American post office carries nearly as 
much mail matter as all the post offices of Europe. Finally, 
the average earnings of an inhabitant of the United States 
are given by this foreign compiler as more than double 
those of an average inhabitant of Europe. 

The meaning of the facts as to production and wealth 
given in the preceding sections can be best understood, 
perhaps, in the light of a computation made by Edward 
Atkinson, the American statistician. He states that a " por- 
tion," consisting of food, fuel, and materials for clothing, 
which corresponds to the average daily consumption of arti- 
sans and mechanics in New England, could be purchased 
in i860 for thirty-one cents, and in 1890 for thirty cents, 
although in the meantime the average daily wage has in- 
creased from one dollar and sixty cents to two dollars and 
sixty cents. Since then both wages and the cost of living 
have somewhat increased. 

405. McKinley and Roosevelt, 1901-09. — In Novem- 
ber, 1900, William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt were 
elected President and Vice President by a very large major- 



igoo] 



McKinhy and Roosevelt 



581 



ity over the Democratic candidates. On September 6, 1901, 
President McKinley was murdered by an insane man, while Death of 
attending the Pan-American Fair at Buffalo in the state of McKinley. 



1901. 




President McKinley 

New York. By the untimely death of this kindly and able 
chief magistrate, Roosevelt became President, and three 
years later (1904) was himself elected to that high office. 

The turn of the century saw a rising spirit of unrest in The United 
China which ended in a movement against the introduction States a 
of foreign methods and modern reforms which is known as 
the Boxer Rebellion. This finally took the form of an attack 



World 
Power, 1900. 



582 



National Development 



[§405 



on the foreign embassies in Pekin, the capital of China. 
The United States, the principal nations of Europe, and Japan 
united to rescue their representatives from the Chinese. 
This was done with some difficulty ; but the incident is es 
pecially interesting to Americans because it was the first time 
that any considerable body of American soldiers found them- 
selves acting in company with troops from Russia, Germany, 
France, Great Britain, and Japan, or, indeed, from any 
foreign country. It marks the entrance of the United States 
into the arena as a World Power and the breaking down of 
that policy of isolation which was dear to Washington and to 
Jefferson ; but it is very possible that if these great men 
were now hving, they would view the matter very differently 
from what they did one hundred and more years ago. 

Another example of the interference of the United States 
in the affairs of the world at large occurred in 1905, when 
President Roosevelt urged the Russians and Japanese, who 
were then warring with each other, to put an end to their 
strife. He thought that it was the "interest not only of 
these two great Powers, but of all civilized mankind, that a 
just and lasting peace may speedily be concluded between 
them." After conferences which continued for nearly a 
month, a treaty was signed, September 5, 1905. Again, 
Mr. Roosevelt pressed heavily for the avoidance of war by 
bringing about the assembling of the Second International 
Peace Congress at the Hague in 1907. At this meeting 
many important improvements in international relations 
were proposed ; but few of these have been accepted by 
Great Britain and other leading powers. 

For the same general purpose of preserving the world's 
peace, the United States has occupied the island of Cuba 
since 1906 and has undertaken the collection of the customs 
revenues of Santo Domingo and the satisfying of the de- 
mands of the creditors of the government of that island. 

The summer of 1902 also witnessed the most far-reaching 
strike in the history of the country, when the miners of an- 
thracite coal refused longer to work on the conditions offered 



i9°3] Alaska and Panama 583 

them by the owners of the mines or by those who operated 
them. At one time it seemed as if great hardship would be 
caused throughout the North by the lack of the fuel which 
is used for heating houses. President Roosevelt, however, 
interfered and appointed five commissioners to hear the 
contending parties and to propose, if possible, a basis of 
settlement between them, on the understanding that in the 
meantime the striking miners should return to work. In 
this way suffering was lessened, and Congress, by voting 
money for the salaries and expenses of the Commission, 
ratified the action of the President. 

406. Alaska and Panama. — In the winter of 1896-97, The Alaskan 
gold was discovered in the valley of the Klondike River, in Boundary, 
Canada, two thousand miles up the Yukon River, which ^^°^" 
flows through Alaska. Soon millions of dollars' worth of 
gold dust began coming from this region and also from Cape 
Nome on the northwest coast of Alaska. It happened that 
the easiest way to the Klondike was over territory which 
was partly in Alaska and partly in Canada. This led to a 
new examination of the frontier between the possessions of 
the United States and of Great Britain in that part of the 
world. After long negotiation, the matter was settled iTiainly 
in favor of the United States by a joint court which sat at 
London in 1903. 

Almost from the time of the discovery of the Pacific by The 
Balboa, proposals have been made for digging a canal across Panama 
the Isthmus of Panama. But the difficulties offered by the "* ' 
steep mountains and the rivers subject to sudden floods post- 
poned the carrying out of this project, although the distance 
from Panama, on the Pacific, to Colon, on the Caribbean, is 
only forty-six miles in a straight line. At length, in 1881, 
Ferdinand de Lesseps, a French engineer under whose direc- 
tion the Suez Canal had been dug, undertook the cutting of 
a sea-level canal across the Isthmus. This plan was aban- 
doned, however, after a great deal of money had been spent. 
A second French company then undertook the construction 
of a canal with locks. The people of the United States 



584 



National Development 



[§407 



Regulation of 
corporations. 



Election of 

1908. 



have always been greatly interested in the project of making 
a canal between the Atlantic and the Pacific, and since the 
acquisition of Hawaii and the Philippines this interest has, 
if anything, increased. Before 1904, however, obstacles of 
one sort or another have prevented the realization of this 
desire. In this year, however, events so shaped themselves 
that it became possible for the United States to enter upon 
the construction of this important waterway. 

407. An Aroused Ethical Sentiment. — For some years 
there had been on the statute book two laws for the regula- 
tion of the railroads and corporations doing an interstate 
business — the Interstate Commerce Act and the Sherman 
Anti-Trust Law. Up to 1903, slight results had been pro- 
duced by this legislation. By public addresses, by written 
messages to Congress, by letters to private persons and 
groups of citizens, and by setting on foot prosecutions, 
President Roosevelt aroused the etliical sentiment of the 
nation to demand obedience to the law from all men with a 
view to providing equal opportunities for the rich and the 
poor. Public opinion became so strong that Congress 
passed acts to strengthen the Interstate Commerce Com- 
mission, to provide adequate penalties for giving rebates or 
other advantages to large shippers, and to reform many 
abuses in the preparation and distribution of articles of food 
and medicines. Congress also provided by law for a more 
rigid inspection of immigrants arriving from abroad and 
enlarged the list of reasons for the exclusion of undesirable 
persons. 

In the presidential campaign of 1908, William J. Bryan 
of Nebraska for the third time was the candidate of the 
Democratic Party. The Republicans nominated William 
H. Taft of Ohio. At the moment he was Secretary of War 
and one of Mr. Roosevelt's most trusted advisers. He 
represented the " Roosevelt policies " and was elected by 
an overwhelming popular vote and by about two-thirds of 
the electoral votes. In state elections, the Democrats 
were more successful, especially in the Middle West. In 



1908] An Aroused Ethical Setitiment 585 

Minnesota, they elected John Johnson governor for the third 
consecutive term. At the same time, the voters of New York 
re-elected Charles E. Hughes, the Republican candidate, 
also in response to the demand for reform and for honesty 
in the administration of government. 

The chief causes of our prosperity in the past have been Causes of 
the frugality, energy, and personal independence of our peo- °"'" 
pie ; the rapid development of invention ; equality of all 
men in the eye of the law ; free institutions and the break- 
ing loose from the prejudices of European societies. These 
qualities, inherent in the races from which the American peo- 
ple has sprung, without the barriers to human activity which 
surrounded them in their old homes, have been combined in 
the United States with a good climate, splendid soil, wonder- 
ful mineral resources, and free trade over an enormous extent 
of territory. These conditions have made the American 
people what it is ; they are all still present in the inhabitants 
of the United States and in the country in which they dwell. 
Great as has been the progress of the American nation in 
the past, there is every reason to believe that its achieve- 
ments in the arts of peace have but just begun. 



586 National Development 

SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS AND TOPICS 

§ 375- The Situation in 1865 

Classify the problems which met the American people in 1865 
under four heads ; make clear statements of each problem in note- 
book, and enter under it the specific efforts towards solution made 
between 1865 and the present time. In handling which of these 
problems has the American people shown marked ability? great lack 
of intelligence? 

§§ 376-392. Constitutional and Political History, 1865-97 

a. Is it true that our pension appropriations demand from the 
people an amount sufficient to support one of the standing armies of 
Europe ? 

b. What well-founded objection could be made to Congress's pledge 
" to redeem ^he public obligations in coin at their face value " ? 

c. What were the constitutional difficulties in the way of reconstruc- 
tion? Look up the following theories: the Presidential, the Congres- 
sional, Sumner's, Stevens's, the Davis-Wade theory, the Supreme 
Court theory. Was the reconstruction policy of Johnson identical 
with that of Lincoln? In your opinion, was reunion possible through 
any such policy? 

d. The Fourteenth Amendment : enumerate the legal rights with 
which the negro was invested by the first sentence; what are the 
" privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States " ? what 
provisions of § I are found in the Fifth Amendment? define "a 
person." 

e. How was slavery extinguished in Kentucky and Delaware? 

f. Discuss the wisdom of granting the franchise to immigrants 
before naturalization. Has the time come to place some limitation on 
immigration? 

g. What are the two great sources of national revenue? Explain 
each and give arguments for and against it. Enumerate other possible 
methods of taxation and discuss their merits; which of them are foj- 
bidden by the Constitution, and why? 

h. What is the difference between a revenue tariff and a protective 
tariff? What were the two foremost protective states, and why? What 
is their attitude to-day, and why? Characterize the arguments in favor 
of the first tariff; how do they differ from present-day arguments? 

i. Explain tonnage, discrimination, registry, clearance. State effects 
of tonnage and discriminating acts upon our shipping interests; upon 
foreign shipping interests. 

j. Discuss the President's " power of removal." Has the President 



Questions and Topics 587 

the right to test the constitutionality of a law by laying the case before 
the Federal Judiciary? Discuss the expediency of his so doing. 

k. What are the three great political issues of to-day ? Trace the 
history of each dispute and forecast the future. 

/. Prepare entries in note-book under "Negro Slavery" for con 
tinuous recitation under the following heads: (i) origin, (2) position 
in 1760, (3) position in 1800, (4) influence of cotton culture on, 
(5) rise of the abolitionists, (6) right of petition, (7) territorial ex- 
pansion, (8) Texas, (9) Mexican cessions, (lo) compromise of 1820, 
of 1850, (II) fugitive slaves, (12) Kansas-Nebraska act, (13) struggle 
in Kansas, (14) rise of the Republican party, (15) the Dred Scott 
case, (16) the Emancipation Proclamation, (17) amendments to the 
Constitution, (18) present position of the negro in the South. 

§§ 394-398. The Spanish War 

a. Was the war inevitable? Was it justifiable? 

b. Had you been a senator or representative, how would you have 
voted on the resolution of April 19? Give your reasons in full. 

c. Comment on the statement (p. 565) that " never, perhaps, in the 
history of the world, has sea power so forcibly and so completely 
asserted itself" 

d. Why are the Hawaiian Islands of strategic importance? 

e. Do you think that the United States should or should not have 
" colonies " ? What are the reasons for your opinion ? 

§§ 399-404. Industrial History, 1865-1900 

a. What influence has each of the following commodities exerted 
upon the history of the American people: (i) corn, (2) cotton, 
(3) tobacco, (4) wheat? Trace in a similar way the influence of great 
inventions and improvements in industry: (i) the cotton gin, (2) the 
agricultural machinery, (3) the electric telegraph, (4) the railroad. 
Describe the influence of the textile industries upon our history; of 
the iron and the steel industries. 

b. Trace the growth of the urban population from 1800 to the 
present day. How do you account for the increase? in your opinion 
is the growth of cities favorable or unfavorable to higher civilization? 

c. Tabulate the growth of the chief manufactures of the states which 
seceded between 1865 and the present day. What causes tend to make 
the South a manufacturing region? What will be the effect of the 
establishment of the protected industries in the South? 

§§ 405-407. Recent History 
a. If you had been a voter in 1896, how would you have voted, 
for Bryan or for McKinley? Why? 



588 National Developmoit 

b. Could the United States have refused to take part in the Chinese 
War? 

c. Was President Roosevelt's interference in the coal strike 
constitutional? 

d. Why should the United States dig the Panama Canal? 

e. Why was Taft elected President in 1908 ? 

General Questions 

Review in note-book all entries under Civil Service, The Tariff, 
Currency, and make continuous recitation on each topic. What 
headings have wholly dropped out of sight since 1876? What powers 
have you gained by keeping this note-book during your study of 
American history? Can you devise a better method for tracing the 
origin and development of historical institutions and movements? 
What headings should you recommend that have not been mentioned 
in the questions? 



DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE 



In Congress, July 4, 1776, 

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States 
OF America, 

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one 
people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with 
another, and to assume among the Powers of the earth, the separate 
and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God 
entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that 
they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. 

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created 
equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable 
Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happi- 
ness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among 
Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, 
That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these 
ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to insti- 
tute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and 
organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely 
to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate 
that Governments long established should not be changed for light 
and transient causes ; and accordingly all experience hath shown, that 
mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to 
right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. 
But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably 
the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Des- 
potism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, 
and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been 
the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity 
which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. 
The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated 
injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment 
of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be 
submitted to a candid world. 



ii Declaration of Independence 

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and neces- 
sary for the pubiic good. 

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and 
pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent 
should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected 
to attend to them. 

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large 
districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of 
Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and 
formidable to tyrants only. 

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncom- 
fortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for 
the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures. 

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing 
with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people. 

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others 
to be elected; whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihila- 
tion, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State 
remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from 
without, and convulsions within. 

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States ; for 
that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; 
refusing to pass others to encourage their migration hither, and raising 
the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands. 

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his 
Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers. 

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of 
their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries. 

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms 
of Officers to harass our People, and eat out their substance. 

He has kept among us, in times of peace. Standing Armies without 
the Consent of our legislature. 

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior 
to the Civil Power. 

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign 
to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws ; giving his 
Assent to their acts of pretended legislation : 

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us : 

For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from Punishment for any 
Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States: 

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world : 

For imposing taxes on us without our Consent : 

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury : 



Declaration of Independence iii 

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences : 

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring 
Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging 
its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument 
for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies : 

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws;, 
and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments : 

For suspending our own Legislature, and declaring themselves in- 
vested with Power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever. 

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Pro- 
tection and waging War against us. 

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and 
destroyed the lives of our people. 

He is at this time transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries tr» 
compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already beguir 
with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most 
barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation. 

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high 
Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners 
of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands. 

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeav» 
oured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian 
Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction 
of all ages, sexes and conditions. 

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress 
in the most humble terms : Our repeated Petitions have been answered 
only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by* 
every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free 
People. 

Nor have We been wanting in attention to our Brittish brethren. We 
have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to 
extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them 
of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have 
appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured 
them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, 
which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. 
They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. 
We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our 
Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies 
in War, in Peace Friends. 

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, 
in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of 
the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by 



iv Declaration of Independence 

Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and 
declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free 
and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to 
the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and 
the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally disso' /ed; and 
that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power t- levy War, 
conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all 
other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. 
And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the 
Protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our 
Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor. 

JOHN HANCOCK. 

New Hampshire — JosiAH Bartlett, Wm. Whipple, Matthew 
Thornton. 

Massachusetts Bay — Saml. Adams, John Adams, Robt. Treat 
Paine, Elbridge Gerry. 

Rhode Island — Step. Hopkins, William Ellery. 

Connecticut — Roger Sherman, Sam'el Huntington, Wm. Will- 
iams, Oliver Wolcott. 

A^ew York — Wm. Floyd, Phil. Livingston, Frans. Lewis, Lewis 
Morris. 

New Jersey — RiCHD. Stockton, Jno. Witherspoon, Eras. Hop- 
kinson, John Hart, Abra. Clark. 

Pennsylvania — RoBT. Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benja. P'rank- 
lin, John Morton, Geo. Clymer, Jas. Smith, Geo. Taylor, James 
Wilson, Geo. Ross. 

Delaware — C^sar Rodney, Geo. Read, Tho. M'Kean. 

Maryland — Samuel Chase, Wm. Paca, Thos. Stone, Charles 
Carroll of CarroUton. 

Virginia — George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Th. Jefferson, 
Benja. Harrison, Thos. Nelson, jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, 
Carter Braxton. 

North Carolitia — Wm. Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn. 

South Carolina — Edward Rutledge, Thos. Heyward, Junr., 
Thomas Lynch, Junr., Arthur Middleton. 

Georgia — Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, Geo. Walton. ^ 

^ This arrangement of the names is made for convenience. The 
states are not mentioned in the original. 



CONSTITUTION 

OF THE 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA* 



We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect 
Union, establish Justice, insure domestic 1 ranquility, provide for the 
common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Bless- 
ings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and estab- 
lish this Constitution for the United States of America. 



ARTICLE. I. 

Section. I. All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested 
in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and 
House of Representatives. 

Section. 2. The House of Representatives shall be composed of 
Members chosen every second Year by the People of the several States, 
and the Electors in each State shall have the Qualifications requisite 
for Electors of the most numerous Branch of the State Legislature. 

No Person shall be a Representative who shall not have attained to 
the Age of twenty five Years, and been seven Years a Citizen of the 
United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of 
that State in which he shall be chosen. 

Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the 
several States which may be included within this Union, according to 
their respective numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the 
whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a 
Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all 
other Persons. The actual Enumeration shall be made within three 
Years after the first Meeting of the Congress of the United States, and 
within every subsequent Term of ten Years, in such Manner as they 
shall by Law direct. The number of Representatives shall not exceed 
one for every thirty Thousand, but each State shall have at Least one 

* Reprinted from the text issued by the State Department. 

V 



vi Constitution of the United States 

Representative; and until such enumeration shall be made, the State 
of New Hampshire shall be entitled to chuse three, Massachusetts 
eight, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations one, Connecticut live, 
New-York six. New Jersey four, Pennsylvania eight, Delaware one, 
Maryland six, Virginia ten. North Carolina live, South Carolina five, 
and Georgia three. 

When vacancies happen in the Representation from any State, the 
Executive Authority thereof shall issue Writs of Election to fill such 
Vacancies. 

The House of Representatives shall chuse their Speaker and oth'='r 
Officers; and shall have the sole Power of Impeachment. 

Section. 3. The Senate of the United States shall be composed of 
two Senators from each State, chosen by the Legislature thereof, for 
six Years; and each Senator shall have one Vote. 

Immediately after they shall be assembled in' Consequence of the 
first Election, they shall be divided as equally as may be into three 
Classes. The Seats of the Senators of the first Class shall be vacated 
at the Expiration of the second Year, of the second Class at the Expira- 
tion of the fourth Year, and of the third Class at the Expiration of the 
sixth Year, so that one third may be chosen every second Year; and if 
Vacancies happen by Resignation, or otherwise, during the Recess of 
the Legislature of any State, the Executive thereof may make tempo- 
rary Appointments until the next Meeting of the Legislature, which 
shall then fill such Vacancies. 

No Person shall be a Senator who shall not have attained to the 
Age of thirty Years, and been nine Years a Citizen of the United States, 
and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State for 
which he shall be chosen. 

The Vice President of the United States shall be President of the 
Senate, but shall have no Vote, unless they be equally divided. 

The Senate shall chuse their other Officers, and also a President pro 
tempore, in the Absence of the Vice President, or when he shall exer- 
cise the Office of President of the United States. 

The Senate shall have the sole Power to try all Impeachments. 
When sitting for that Purpose, they shall be on Oath or Affirmation. 
When the President of the United States is tried, the Chief Justice shall 
preside : And no Person shall be convicted without the Concurrence 
of two thirds of the Members present. 

Judgment in Cases of Impeachment shall not extend further than to 
removal from Office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any Office 
of honor. Trust or Profit under the United States : but the Party con- 
victed shall nevertheless be liable and subject to Indictment, Trial, 
Judgment and Punishment, according to Law. 

Section. 4. The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections 



Constitution of the United States vii 

for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by 
the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law • 
make or alter such Regulations, except as to the Places of chusing 
Senators. 

The Congress shall assemble at least once in every Year, and such 
Meeting shall be on the first Monday in December, unless they shall 
by Law appoint a different Day. 

Section. 5. Each House shall be the Judge of the Elections, Re- 
turns and Qualifications of its own Members, and a Majority of each 
shall constitute a Quorum to do Business; but a smaller Number may 
adjourn from day to day, and may be authorized to compel the Attend- 
ance of absent Members, in such Manner, and under such Penalties as 
each House may provide. 

Each House may determine the Rules of its Proceedings, punish its 
Members for disorderly Behaviour, and, with the Concurrence of two 
thirds, expel a member. 

Each House shall keep a Journal of its Proceedings, and from time 
to time publish the same, excepting such Parts as may in their Judgment 
require Secrecy; and the Yeas and Nays of the Members of either 
House on any question shall, at the Desire of one fifth of those Present, 
be entered on the Journal. 

Neither House, during the Session of Congress, shall, without the 
Consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to any 
other Place than that in which the two Houses shall be sitting. 

Section. 6. The Senators and Representatives shall receive a Com- 
pensation for their Services, to be ascertained by Law, and paid out of 
the Treasury of the United States. They shall in all Cases, except 
Treason, Felony and Breach of the Peace, be privileged from Arrest 
during their Attendance at the Session of their respective Houses, and 
in going to and returning from the same; and for any Speech or 
Debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other 
Place. 

No Senator or Representative shall, during the Time for which he 
was elected, be appointed to any civil Office under the Authority of the 
United States, which shall have been created, or the Emoluments 
whereof shall have been encreased during such time; and no Person 
holding any Office under the United States, shall be a Member of 
either House during his Continuance in Office. 

Section. 7. All Bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the 
House of Representatives; but the Senate may propose or concur with 
Amendments as on other Bills. 

Every Bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives 
and the Senate, shall, before it become a Law, be presented to the 
President of the United States; If he approve he shall sign it, but if 



viii Constitutidn of the United States 

not he shall return it, with his Objections, to that House in which it 
shall have originated, who shall enter the Objections at large on their 
Journal, and proceed to reconsider it. If after such Reconsideration 
two thirds of that House shall agree to pass the Bill, it shall be sent, 
together with the Objections, to the other House, by which it shall like- 
wise be reconsidered, and if approved by two thirds of that House, it 
shall become a Law. But in all such Cases the Votes of both Houses 
shall be determined by yeas and Nays, and the Names of the Persons 
voting for and against the Bill shall be entered on the Journal of each 
House respectively. If any Bill shall not be returned by the President 
within ten Days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been presented 
to him, the same shall be a Law, in like Manner as if he had signed it, 
unless the Congress by their Adjournment prevent its Return, in which 
Case it shall not be a Law. 

Every Order, Resolution, or Vote to which the Concurrence of the 
Senate and House of Representatives may be necessary (except on a 
question of Adjournment) shall be presented to the President of the 
United States; and before the Same shall take Effect, shall be approved 
by him, or being disapproved by him, shall be repassed by two thirds 
of the Senate and House of Representatives, according to the Rules 
and Limitations prescribed in the Case of a Bill. 

Section. 8. The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect 
Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide 
for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; 
but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the 
United States; 

To borrow Money on the credit of the United States; 

To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several 
States, and with the Indian Tribes; 

To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform Laws 
on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States; 

To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and 
fix the Standard of Weights and Measures; 

To provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and 
current Coin of the United States; 

To establish Post Offices and post Roads; 

To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for 
limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their 
respective Writings and Discoveries; 

To constitute Tribunals inferior to the supreme Court; 

To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high 
Seas, and Offences against the Law of Nations; 

To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make 
Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water; 



Constitution of the United States ix 

To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that 
Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years; 

To provide and maintain a Navy; 

To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and 
naval Forces; 

To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the 
Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions; 

To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia, and 
for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of 
the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment 
of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to 
the discipline prescribed by Congress; 

To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such 
District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of partic- 
ular States, and the Acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of the 
Government of the United States, and to exercise like Authority over 
all Places purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of the State in 
which the same shall be, for the Erection of Forts, Magazines, Arse- 
nals, dock- Yards, and other needful Buildings; — And 

To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying 
into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by 
this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any 
Department or Officer thereof. 

Section. 9. The Migration or Importation of such Persons as any 
of the States now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be pro- 
hibited by the Congress prior to the Year one thousand eight hundred 
and eight, but a Tax or duty may be imposed on such Importation, not 
exceeding ten dollars for each Person. 

The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, 
unless when in' Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may 
require it. 

No Bill of Attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed. 

No Capitation, or other direct, Tax shall be laid, unless in Proportion 
to the Census or Enumeration herein before directed to be taken. 

No Tax or Duty shall be laid on Articles exported from any State. 

No Preference shall be given by any Regulation of Commerce or 
Revenue to the Ports of one State over those of another: nor shall 
Vessels bound to, or from, one State, be obliged to enter, clear, or pay 
Duties in another. 

No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence 
of Appropriations made by Law; and a regular Statement and Account 
of the Receipts and Expenditures of all public Money shall be pub- 
lished from time to time. 

No Title of NobiUty shall be granted by the United States : And no 



X Constitution of the United States 

Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without 
the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present. Emolument, Office, 
or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State. 

Section, io. No State shall enter into any Treaty, Alliance, or 
Confederation; grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal; coin Money; 
emit Bills of Credit; make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a 
Tender in Payment of Debts; pass any Bill of Attainder, ex post facto 
Law, or Law impairing the Obligation of Contracts, or grant any Title 
of Ncibility. 

No State shall, without the Consent of the Congress, lay any Im- 
posts or Duties on Imports or Exports, except what may be absolute!" 
necessary for executing its inspection Laws : and the net Produce of all 
Duties and Imposts, laid by any State on Imports or Exports, shall be 
for the Use of the Treasury of the United States; and all such Laws 
shall be subject to the Revision and Controul of the Congress. 

No Slate shall, without the Consent of Congress, lay any Duty of 
Tonnage, keep Troops, or Ships of War in time of Peace, enter into 
any Agreement or Compact with another State, or with a foreign 
Power, or engage in War, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent 
Danger as will not admit of delay. 

ARTICLE. II. 

Section, i. The executive Power shall be vested in a President of 
the United States of America. He shall hold his Office during the 
Term of four Years, and, together with the Vice President, chosen for 
the same Term, be elected, as follows 

Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof 
may direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Sena- 
tors and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the 
Congress : but no Senator or Representative, or Person holding an 
Office of Trust or Profit under the United States, shall be appointed 
an Elector. 

The Electors shall meet in their respective States, and vote by Ballot 
for two Persons, of whom one at least shall not be an Inhabitant of the 
same State with themselves. And they shall make a List of all the Per- 
sons voted for, and of the Number of Votes for each ; which List they 
shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the Seat of the Govern- 
ment of the United States, directed to the President of the Senate. 
The President of the Senate shall, in the Presence of the Senate and 
House of Representatives, open all the Certificates, and the Votes 
shall then be counted. The Person having the greatest Number of 
Votes shall be the President, if such Number be a Majority of the 
whole Number of Electors appointed; and if there be more than one 



Constitution of the United States xi 

who have such Majority, and have an equal Number of Votes, then the 
House of Representatives shall immediately chuse by Ballot one of 
them for President ; and if no Person have a Majority, then from the 
five highest on the List the said House shall in like Manner chuse the 
President. But in chusing the President, the Votes shall be taken by 
States, the Representation from each State having one Vote; A quorum 
for this Purpose shall consist of a Member or Members from two thirds 
of the States, and a Majority of all the States shall be necessary to a 
Choice. In every Case, after the Choice of the President, the Person 
having the greatest Number of Votes of the Electors shall be the Vice 
President. But if there should remain two or more who have equal 
Votes, the Senate shall chuse from them by Ballot the Vice President. 

The Congress may determine the Time of chusing the Electors, and 
the Day on which they shall give their Votes; which Day shall be the 
same throughout the United States. 

No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United 
States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible 
to the Office of President; neither shall any Person be eligible to that 
Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty five Years, and' 
been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States. 

In Case of the Removal of the President from Office, or of his Death, 
Resignation, or Inability to discharge the Powers and Duties of the said 
Office, the Same. shall devolve on the Vice President, and the Congress 
may by Law provide for the Case of Removal, Death, Resignation or 
Inability, both of the President and Vice President, declaring what 
Officer shall then act as President, and such Officer shall act accordingly, 
until thfe Disability be removed, or a President shall be elected. 

The President shall, at stated Times, receive for his Services, a Com- 
pensation, which shall neither be encreased nor diminished during the 
Period for which he shall have been elected, and he shall not receive 
within that Period any other Emolument from the United States, or 
any of them. 

Before he enter on the Execution of his Office, he shall take the fol- 
lowing Oath or Affirmation : — 

" I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the 
Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my 
Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United 
States." 

Section. 2. The President shall be Commander in Chief of the 
Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several 
States, when called into the actual Service of the United States; he may 
require the Opinion, in writing, of the principal Officer in each of the 
executive Departments, upon any Subject relating to the Duties of their 
respective Offices, and he shall have Power to grant Reprieves and 



xii Constitution of the United States 

Pardons for Offences against the United States, except in Cases of 
Impeachment. ^ 

He shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the 
Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present 
concur; and he shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent 
of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and 
Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court, and all other Officers of the 
United States, whose Appointments are not herein otherwise provided 
for, and which shall be established by Law : but the Congress may by 
Law vest the Appointment of such inferior Officers, as they think proper, 
in the President alone, in the Courts of Law, or in the Heads of 
Departments. 

The President shall have Power to fill up all Vacancies that may 
happen during the Recess of the Senate, by granting Commissions 
which shall expire at the End of their next Session. 

Section. 3. He shall from time to time give to the Congress Infor- 
mation of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration 
such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient; he may, on 
extraordinary Occasions, convene both Houses, or either of them, and 
in Case of Disagreement between them, with Respect to the Time of 
Adjournment, he may adjourn them to such Time as he shall think 
proper; he shall receive Ambassadors and other public Ministers; he 
shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed, and shall Commis- 
sion all the Officers of the United States. 

Section. 4. The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of 
the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, 
and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Mis- 
demeanors. 

ARTICLE III. 

Section, vr. The judicial Power of the United States, shall be 
vested in one supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Con- 
gress may from time to time ordain and establish. The Judges, both 
of the supreme and inferior Courts, shall hold their Offices during good 
Behaviour, and shall, at stated Times, receive for their Services, a Com- 
pensation, which shall not be diminished during their continuance in 
Office. 

Section. 2. The judicial Power shall extend to all Cases, in Law 
and Equity, arising under this Constitution, the Laws of the United 
States, and Treaties made, or which shall be made, under their Author- 
ity; — to all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and 
Consuls; — to all Cases of admiralty and maritime Jurisdiction; — to 
Controversies to which the United States shall be a Party; — to Contro- 
versies between two or more States; — between a State and Citizens 



Constitution of the United States xiii 

of another State ; — between Citizens of different States, — between 
Citizens of the same State claiming Lands under Grants of different 
States, and between a State, or the Citizens thereof, and foreign States, 
Citizens or Subjects. 

In all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Con- 
suls, and those in which a State shall be Party, the supreme Court shall 
have original Jurisdiction. In all the other Cases before mentioned, 
the supreme Court shall have appellate Jurisdiction, both as to Law 
and Fact, with such Exceptions, and under such regulations as the 
Congress shall make. 

The Trial of all Crimes, except in Cases of Impeachment, shall be 
by Jury; and such Trial shall be held in the State where the said Crimes 
shall have been committed; but when not committed within any State, 
the Trial shall be at such Place or Places as the Congress may by Law 
have directed. 

Section. 3. Treason against the United States, shall consist only 
in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving 
them Aid and Comfort. No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless 
on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Con- 
fession in open Court. 

The Congress shall have Power to declare the Punishment of Trea- 
son, but no Attainder of Treason shall work Corruption of Blood, or 
Forfeiture except during the Life of the Person attainted. 

ARTICLE. IV. 

Section, i. Full Faith and Credit shall be given in each State to 
the public Acts, Records, and judicial Proceedings of every other State. 
And the Congress may by general Laws prescribe the Manner in which 
such Acts, Records and Proceedings shall be proved, and the Effect 
thereof 

Section. 2. The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all 
Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States. 

A Person charged in any State with Treason, Felony, or other 
Crime, who shall flee from Justice, and be found in another State, shall 
on Demand of the executive Authority of the State from which he fled, 
be delivered up, to be removed to the State having Jurisdiction of the 
Crime. 

No Person held to Service or Labour in one State, under the Laws 
thereof, escaping into another, shall, in Consequence of any Law or 
Regulation therein, be discharged from such Service or Labour, but 
shall be delivered up on Claim of the Party to whom such Service or 
Labour may be due. 

Section. 3. New States may be admitted by the Congress into this 



xiv Constitution of the United States 

Union ; but no new State shall be formed or erected within the Juris* 
diction of any other State ; nor any State be formed by the Junction 
of two or more States, or Parts of States, without the Consent of the 
Legislatures of the States concerned as well as of the Congress. 

The Congress shall have Power to dispose of and make all needful 
Rules and Regulations respecting the Territory or other Property 
belonging to the United States; and nothing in this Constitution shall 
be so construed as to Prejudice any Claims of the United States, or of 
any particular State. 

Section. 4. The United States shall guarantee to every State in 
this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each 
of them against Invasion ; and on Application of the Legislature, or of 
the Executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened) against 
domestic Violence. 

ARTICLE. V. 

The Congress, whenever two thirds of both Houses shall deem it 
necessary, shall propose Amendments to this Constitution, or, on the 
Application of the Legislatures of two thirds of the several States, shall 
call a Convention for proposing Amendments, which, in either Case, 
shall be valid to all Intents and Purposes, as Part of this Constitution, 
when ratified by the Legislatures of three fourths of the several States, 
or by Conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other 
Mode of Ratification may be proposed by the Congress; Provided that 
no Amendment which may be made prior to the Year One thousand 
eight hundred and eight shall in any Manner affect the first and fourth 
Clauses in the Ninth Section of the first Article; and that no State, 
without its Consent, shall be deprived of its equal Suffrage in the 
Senate. 

ARTICLE. VI. 

All Debts contracted and Engagements entered into, before the 
Adoption of this Constitution, shall be as valid against the United 
States under this Constitution, as under the Confederation. 

This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be 
made in Pursuance thereof ; and all Treaties made, or which shall 
be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme 
Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, 
any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary 
notwithstanding. 

The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Mem- 
bers of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial 
Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be 



Constitution of the United States xv 

bound by Oath at Affirmation, to support this Constitution ; but no 
religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or 
public Trust under the United States. 



ARTICLE. VII. 

The Ratification of the Conventions of nine States, shall be sufficient 
for the Establishment of this Constitution between the States so ratify- 
ing the Same. 

THE AMENDMENTS. 



Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, 
or prohibiting the free exercise thereof ; or abridging the freedom of 
speech, or of the press ; or the right of the people peaceably to 
assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. 



A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free 
State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be 
infringed. 



No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, with- 
out the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to 
be prescribed by law. 



The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, 
and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be 
violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, sup- 
ported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to 
be searched, and the persons or things to be seized. 



No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infa- 
mous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, 
except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, 
when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any 
person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of 



xvi Constitution of the United States 

life or limb ; nor shall be compelled in any Criminal Case to be witness 
against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without 
due process of law ; nor shall private property be taken for public use, 
without just compensation. 

VI, 

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a 
speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district 
wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have 
been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature 
and cause of the accusation ; to be confronted with the witnesses 
against him ; to have compulsory process for obtaining Witnesses in 
his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence. 



In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed 
twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact 
tried by a jury shall be otherwise re-examined in any Court of the 
United States, than according to the rules of the common law. 



Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, 
nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted. 



The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be 
construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people. 



The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, 
nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respec- 
tively, or to the people. 

XI. 

The Judicial power of the United States shall not be construed to 
extend to any suit in law or equity, commenced or prosecuted against 
one of the United States by Citizens of another State, or by Citizens or 
Subjects of any Foreign State. 

XII. 

The Electors shall meet in their respective states, and vote by ballot 
for President and Vice President, one of whom, at least, shall not be 
an inhabitant of the same state with themselves ; they shall name in 
their ballots the person voted for as President, and in distinct ballots 



Constitution of the United States xvii 

the person voted for as Vice-President, and they shall make distinct 
lists of all persons voted for as President, and of all persons voted for 
as Vice-President, and of the number of votes for each, which lists 
they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the seat of the 
government of the United States, directed to the President of the 
Senate; — The President of the Senate shall, in the presence of 
the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the certificates 
and the votes shall then be counted ; — The person having the greatest 
number of votes for President, shall be the President, if such number 
be a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed ; and if no 
person have such majority, then from the persons having the highest 
numbers not exceeding three on the list of those voted for as President, 
the House of Representatives shall choose immediately, by ballot, the 
President. But in choosing the President, the votes shall be taken by 
states, the representation from each state having one vote ; a quorum 
for this purpose shall consist of a member or members from two-thirds 
of the states, and a majority of all the states shall be necessary to a 
choice. And if the House of Representatives shall not choose a Presi- 
dent whenever the right of choice shall devolve upon them, before the 
fourth day of March next following, then the Vice-President shall act 
as President, as in the case of the death or other constitutional dis- 
ability of the President. The person having the greatest number of 
votes as Vice-President, shall be the Vice-President, if such number be 
a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed, and if no person 
have a majority, then from the two highest numbers on the list, the 
Senate shall choose the Vice-President ; a quorum for the purpose 
shall consist of two-thirds of the whole number of Senators, and a 
majority of the whole number shall be necessary to a choice. But no 
person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be 
eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States. 



Section i. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a 
punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly con- 
victed, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to 
their jurisdiction. 

Section 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by 
appropriate legislation. 



Section i. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, 
and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States 
and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce 



xviii Constitution of the United States 

any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens 
of the United States : nor shall any State deprive any person of life, 
liberty, or property, without due process of law ; nor deny to any 
person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. 

Section 2. Representatives shall be apportioned among the several 
States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole num- 
ber of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. But when 
the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President 
and Vice-President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, 
the Executive and Judicial officers of a State, or the members of the 
Legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such 
State, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, 
or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or other 
crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the pro- 
portion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the v/hole 
number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such State. 

Section 3. No person shall be a Senator or Representative in 
Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, 
civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, 
having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an 
officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or 
as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitu- 
tion of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion 
against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But 
Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such 
disability. 

Section 4. The validity of the pubHc debt of the United States, 
authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions 
and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall 
not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any State shall 
assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or 
rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emanci- 
pation of any slave ; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be 
held illegal and void. 

Section 5. The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appro- 
priate legislation, the provisions of this article. 



Section i. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall 
not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on 
account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. 

Section 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article 
by appropriate legislation. 



INDEX 



Abolitionists, in colonial times, 121; in 
Washington's administration, 270; in 
1831, 399; in 1850, 432; in i85o, 470. 
See Antislavery and Slavery. 

Acadia, 50, 113. 

Adams, John, portrait, 285; autograph, 
259; notesofOtis's speech, 134; defends 
British soldiers, 156; and the Declara- 
tion of Independence, 183; peace com- 
missioner, 1782, 207 ; Vice-President, 
258, 259, 276 ; President, 281, 282 ; 
partisan conduct, 292. 

Adams, John Quincy, portrait, 365; auto- 
graph, 359 ; commissioner at Ghent, 
342 ; defends Jackson's Florida raid, 
353 ; and the Monroe Doctrine, 357, 
358 ; elected President, 364-368 ; ad- 
ministration of, 368-374; in House of 
Representatives. 400 ; on the Presi- 
dent's war powers, 477. 

Adams, Samuel, portrait, 151; leads op- 
position movement in Massachusetts, 
151 ; and the Boston Massacre, 155 ; 
local Committees of Correspondence, 
157 ; in Continental Congress, 163. 

Adet, French minister, 276. 

Agricultural industries in 1800, 301 ; in 
i860, 462; in 1900, 578. 

Alabama, Confederate cruiser, 527. 

Alabama claims, 546, 547. 

Alaska, acquisition of, 544 ; boundary of, 
582. 

Albany Congress and Plan (1754), 119, 120. 

Albany Conference (i860), 478. 

Albany Junto, 371. 

Alexandria Convention, 233. 

Alien and Sedition Acts, 284-286. 

Amadas, Philip, explores Virginia, 43. 

America, physiography of, 1-16; discov- 
ery and exploration of, 19-46; naming 
of, 29. 

American Association, 163. 

American people, condition of, in 1800, 
295-308 ; in 1830, 377-390 ■, in i860, 
455-467 ; in 1900, 571-580 ; physical 
characteristics of, 15. 

Americus Vespucius, see Vespucius. 

xix 



Amnesty Act (1872), 545, 

Andr^, John, 193-195. 

Andrew, John A., 478. 

Andros, Sir Edmund, 97, 104-107. 

Annapolis Convention, 234. 

Anti-Nebraska men, 445. 

Antietam, battle of, 510. 

Antislavery agitation (1790), 269 ; (l83I« 
38), 399-402. 

Appomattox, surrender at, 529. 

Aristotle (ar'is-tot-1), on shape of earth, 20. 

Arkansas, formation of territory of, 360, 
361. 

Armada, Spanish, defeat of, 44 ; impor- 
tance of, in American history, 46. 

Arnold, Benedict, invades Canada, 175 ; 
at Saratoga, 186 ; reprimanded by 
Washington, 193 ; treason of, 194. 

Arthur, Chester A., Vice-President and 
President, 551. 

Articles of Confederation, 217-219. 

Atlanta campaign, 522-523. 

Ayllon, de (da-il-yon'), Lucas Vasquez, 
attempts to found colony, 34. 

Balboa (bal-bo'a), see Nunez. 

Baltimore, Baron, see Calvert. 

Beaurnarchais, Caron de, 190, 

Behaim (ba'hem), Martin, his globe, 23. 

Bell, John, nominated President, i86o, 
469. 

Berkeley, Lord, 95, 96. 

Berkeley, Sir William, governor of Vir- 
ginia, 59, 103. 

Bladensburg, battle of, 337. 

Blair, F. P., 486, 487. 

Body of Liberties, the, 79. 

Bonaparte, Napoleon, 289; sells Louisi- 
ana, 317 ; decrees as to commerce, 322, 

323. 327- 

"Border states" in Civil War, 486, 487, 
496. 

Boston, founded, 71 ; king's commis- 
sioners at, 94 ■. in 1689, 107 ; massacre 
at (1770), 155 ; destruction of tea at, 
161 ; siege of, in 1775-76, 166, 172-175 : 
Garrison mob at, 400. 



XX 



Index 



Bradford, William, governor of Plymouth, 

68. 
Bragg, Confederate general, 511,513,524. 
Breckinridge, John C, Vice-President, 

447, 448 ; nominated President, 1S60, 

467. 
Brown, General Jacob, in War of 1812, 

337- 
Brown, John, portrait, 451 ; autograph, 

444 ; in Kansas, 444 ; execution of, 

450-452. 
Bryan, William J., candidate for the 

presidency, 557. 
Buchanan, James, portrait, 472 ; in the 

Senate, 401 ; elected President, 447, 

448; in the secession crisis, 471, 472. 
Buell, General, 511. 
Bull Run, first battle of, 498, 499; second 

battle of, 510. 
Bunker Hill, battle of, 172, 173. 
Burgoyne, British general, 185-188. 
Burke, Edmund, 164. 
Burns, attempted rescue of. 437. 
Burnside, General A. E., at Fredericks- 
burg, 510, 511; at Knoxville, 520-522. 
Burr, Aaron, Vice-President, 291, 320 ; 

kills Hamilton, 320 ; conspiracy and 

trial, 320, 321. 

Cabeza de Vaca (ka-ba'sa da vS'ka), 
Alvar Nunez, his wanderings, 35. 

Cabot, George, on Republicans, 308. 

Cabot ikab'ot), John, discovers North 
America, 27. 

Cabot, Sebastian, his map, 27. 

Cabral (ka-bral'), Pedro Alvarez, his 
voyage to .South .America, 32. 

Calhoun, John C., portrait, 396 ; auto- 
graph, 434; member of Congress, 331; 
advocates nationalism, 348 ; as Secre- 
tary of War proposes to court-martial 
Jackson, 353; his Exposition, 372; his 
theory of states' rights, 392; and nulli- 
fication, 395-398 ; on antislavery peti- 
tions, 400, 401 ; on " incendiary publi- 
cations," 401, 402; Secretary of State, 
413; negotiates treaty for annexation of 
Texas, 419, 420; on the compromise of 
1850, 434. 

California, seized by the United States, 
422; discovery of gold in, 427; applies 
for admission to Union, 428; admitted, 
436. 

Callender, trial of, 286. 

Calvert, George, Baron Baltimore, 60. 

Calyert, Cecilius, second Baron Balti- 
more, founds Maryland, 60-62. 



Cambridge Agreement, 69. 

Camden, Lord, 148, 149. 

Cameron, Simon, 470; Secretary of War. 
483; 

Canning, George, Briti.sh foreign minis, 
ter, and Monroe Doctrine, 356. 

Carolinas, the charters of, loi ; settle, 
ment of, 102 ; rebellion in (1719), no ; 
claims of, to western lands, 221. See 
also North Carolina, South Carolina. 

Carteret, Sir George, 95-97. 

Cartier (kar'tya'), Jacques, discovers thfe 
St. Lawrence, 37. 

Cass, Lewis, nominated Prasident, 429. 

Chaniplain, Samuel de, 50, 51, 82. 

Chancellorsville, battle of, 517. 

Charleston, S.C., 102; in 1800, 300; in 
Nullification episode, 397 ; Democratic 
convention at (i860), 467. 

Charter of Privileges (Penna.), 100, loi. 

Charters, Virginia, 51, 54; Maryland, 61; 
New England, 63; Ma.ssachuseits, 69, 
71-74 (1691), 109; Providence Planta- 
tions, 77 ; Rhode Island, 94 ; Con- 
necticut, 94 ; Pennsylvania, 98 ; Caro- 
lina, loi ; Georgia, no. 

Chase, Salmon P., ou Kansas-Nebraska 
Act, 440 ; Secretary of the Treasury, 483. 

Chase, Samuel, impeachment of, 314. 

Chatham, Lord (William Pitt), 148, 149, 
165, 191. 

Chattanooga, battle of, 520. 

Chesapeake outrage, the, 325. 

Chicago, population of, 574. 

Chickamauga, battle of. 520. 

Cities, population of, in 1800, 299 ; in 
1830, 382; in i860, 460; in 1900, 573. 

Civil Rights Bill, 540. 

Civil Service Reform, 553-555. 

Civil War, campaigns of the, 484, 495- 
501. 503-513. 516-519. 520-527, 529 ; 
opposition to, in the North, 519, 520. 

Clark. General G. R., conquers western 
territory, 220. 

Clay, Henry, portrait, 367 ; autograph, 
433 > Speaker of House, 331; negotia- 
tion of Treaty of Ghent, 342; and Mis- 
souri Compromise, 361; candidate for 
presidency, 366 ; Secretary of State, 
368; and the Bank, 404, 405; nominated 
for the presidency (1844), 420; and 
compromise of 1850, 433, 434. 

Cleveland, Grover, elected President, 552; 
first administration, 552 ; second ad- 
ministration, 553. 

Clinton, British general. 173, 192. 

Clinton, De Witt, 385. 



Index 



XXI 



Cold Harbor, battle of, 525. 

Coligny, de (deh ko'len'ye'), Gaspard, 
and American colonization, 38. 

Columbus (ko-lum'bus), Christopher, his 
theory as to shape of earth, 21; first 
voyage, 24; second voyage, 25; third 
voyage, 2^', fourth voyage, 26; death, 
27. 

Committees of Correspondence, 157, 158, 
159, 162. 

Compromises, of the Constitution, 237; 
of 1820, 361, 362; of 1833, 398; of 1850, 
433; suggested in i860, 471-472. 

Confederate States, Constitution of the, 

474- 

Confederation of New England, 79, 80. 

Confederation of the United Stales, 216- 
2ig; articles ratified, 222-223; attempts 
to amend, 232. 

Congress, the Albany, 119; the Stamp 
Act, 146; First Continental, 162; Sec- 
ond Continental. 175; of the confedera- 
tion, 218; under the Constitution, 240. 

Connecticut, founding of, 77, 78; charter 
of, 94; claims to western lands, 220, 

' 222; cessions of, 223; in War of 1812, 
344 ; antislavery agitation in, 400, 
402. 

Constitution of the United States, for- 
mation and discussion of, 236-246; 
ratification of, 247, 250, 268; first ten 
amendments, 250-252. 

Constitution, the, and Guerri^re, 339, 

340- 

Constitutional Convention see Federal 
Convention. 

Constitutional Union Party, 469. 

Continental Congress, see Congress. 

Continental line, 200, 201. 

Conway Cabal, 188. 

Cornwallis, British general, 198, 199. 

Coronado (ko-ro-na'do), Francisco Vas- 
quez, his expedition, 36. 

Cortereal, de (kor-ta-ra-al'), Caspar, on 
coast of Labrador, 32. 

Cortez (kor'tgz), Hernando, conquers 
Mexico, 33. 

Cotton gin, influence of fhe, 2, 304. 

Cotton manufacture, 304, 305. 

Crawford, Wm. H., Secretary of the 
Treasury, 365; nominated for presi- 
dency, 366. 

Crittenden Compromise, 472, 473. 

Cuba, relations with, 1807-60, 557, 558; 
misgovernment of, 1868-98, 558-561; 
war with Spain to free, 561-569; free- 
dom of, 571. 



Dale, Sir Thomas, governor of Virginia, 
55. 

Dale's law, 55, 56. 

Dartmouth College case, 351. 

Davis, Jefierson, 474. 

Deane, Silas, 190. 

Declaration of Independence, 181-184. 

Declarations of Rights, of Massachusetts, 
of 1661, 93; of 1765, 146; of 1774, 
163. 

Declaratory Act, 149. 

Delaware, Swedes in, 84; conquered by 
the Dutch, 85; becomes English terri- 
tory, 95 ; granted to Penn, 98 ; separates 
from Pennsylvania, 98; negro slavery 
in, 121. 

De Monts, grant to, 50. 

Dewey, Admiral, 561. 

Dickinson, John, 150, 217. 

Douglas, Stephen A., Kansas-Nebraska 
Bill, 439, 440; " Freeport Doctrine," 
450; nominated for presidency, 467; 
supports Lincoln, 486. 

Draft riots (1863), 520. 

Drake, Sir Francis, with Hawkins, 41; 
his voyage around the world, 42; suc- 
cors Ralegh colonists, 44. 

Dred Scott case, 448, 449. 

Dutch settlements, 82-84; conquered by 
English, 95. 

Early, Jubal, Confederate general, 527. 
Education in the colonies, 124-126; in 

1800, 307, 308; in 1830, 389. 
Edwards, Jonathan, 124. 
Elections, presidential, of 1789, 257; of 

1796, 281; of 1800, 290; of 1824, 364; 

of 1828, 373, 374; of 1840, 410, 411; of 

1844, 420; of 1848, 429-431; of 1852, 

438,439; of 1856, 448; of i860, 467-470; 

of 1864, 528; of 1868, 544; of 1876, 550; 

of 1880, 551; of 1884, 552; of 1888, 552: 

of 1892, 553; of 1896, 553; of 1900, 580. 
Ellsworth. Oliver, 292. 
Emancipation of slaves (i 785-1 800), 305, 

306; (1863-65), 515, 516. 
Emancipation Proclamation, 515, 516. 
Embargo, of 1794, 278; Jefferson's, 325- 

328. 
England, see Great Britain. 
Era of Good Feeling, 364, 365. 
Eratosthenes (er-a-tosthe-neez) on shape 

of earth, 20, 21. 
Ericson, Leif (life er'Ik-son^, 19, 20. 
Ericsson, John, inventor, 506, 507. 
Erie Canal, 385, 386. 
Erskine, British Minister, 329. 



XXll 



Index 



Farragut, Admiral D. G., portrait, 504; 
at New Orleans, 504. 

Federal capital, site of, 268, 969. 

Federal Convention, 232-236, 247. 

Federal ratio. 238. 

Federalist party, supremacy of the, 257- 
sgo; fall of the, 291, 292, 308, 310; ex- 
tinction of the, 347. 

Fifteenth Amendment, 544, 545. 

Fillmore, Millard, Vice-President, 430; 
succeeds Taylor as President, 435; 
nominated for presidency, 447. 

Fisheries, 113, 210, 211, 343, 352. 

Fletcher vs. Peck, case of, 351. 

Florida, discovery of, 33; French and 
Spanish in, 38-40; ceded to Great 
Britain, 116; boundaries of, 117, 118; 
ceded back to Spain, 209; invaded by 
Jackson, 353; purchased by United 
States, 354, 355 ; admitted to Union, 450. 

Foote, Commodore, 501. 

Fourteenth Amendment, 540, 541 

Fox, Charles James, 164, 205, 207. 

Fox, George, founder of Society of 
Friends, 90-92. 

Fox, Gustavus Vasa, 483. 

France, American colonies of, 50-51 ; colo- 
nists of, conquered by British, 113-116: 
treaty of alliance with, 190, 191 ; during 
negotiations for peace, 207; influence 
of, in America, 274-276; controversy 
with (1798-99), 280, 283; treaty of 
1800, 288, 289; spoliation claims, 289, 
990; and neutral commerce, 322, 323; 
settlement of claims against, 403; inter- 
feres in Mexico, 543, 544. 

Franchise, the. 142, 228. 

Franklin, Benjamin, portrait, 206; frames 
Albany Plan, 119; colonial agent, 148; 
and Declaration of Independence, 181; 
at Paris, 190; peace commissioner, 207; 
drafts plan for confederation, 216; dele- 
gate to Federal Convention, 234, 235; 
president of Abolition Society, 270. 

Fredericksburg, battle of, 510, 511. 

Freedraen's Bureau, 539, 540. 

Fremont, John C, nominated for presi- 
dency (1856), 447; in Missouri, 513; 
nominated for presidency (1864), 528. 

Freneau, Philip, 274, 307. 

Friends, Society of, see Quakers. 

Fugitive slaves, 270, 436-438. 

Fulton, Robert, portrait, 302; invents 
steamboat, 301. 

Gadsden Purchase, 457. 
Gag resolutions, 400, 401. 



Gage, British general, 165, 166, 179. 

Gallatin, Albert, portrait, 311; autograph, 
342; opposes repressive legislation, 286; 
Secretary of the Treasury, 3n; atGhent, 
342. 

Gama, da (da ga'ma), Vasco, discovers 
sea route to India, 32. 

Garfield, James A., portrait, 550; Presi- 
dent, 551. 

Garrison, W. L., Abolition leader, 399: 
portrait, 431. 

Gaspee, burning of the, 158. 

Gates, General Horatio, 186, i8q, 198. 

Genet, French agent, 276. 

Georgia founded, 110; enlarged, 117, 118; 
claims of, to western lands, 221, 222; 
cessions of, 224; controversy as to 
Indians, 370; secession of, 471. 

Gerry, Elbridge, 236, 283. 

Gettysburg, battle of, 518, 519. 

Gilbert, Sir Humphrey, his voyages and 
death, 42, 43. 

Gomez (go'iness), Estevan, sails along 
Atlantic coast, 34. 

Gorges, Sir Ferdinando, 73. 

Gorton, Samuel, 76. 

Gosnold, Bartholomew, 51. 

Grant, General U. S., portrait and auto- 
graph, 521 ; secures control of the Ohio, 
501; captures Forts Henry and Donel- 
son, 501; at Shiloh, 505, 506; captures 
Vicksburg, 516, 517; victory at Chatta- 
nooga, 522; lieutenant general, 522; 
Wilderness campaign, 525; besieges 
Petersburg, 526; Appomattox Court 
House, 529; President, 544; reelected, 
548; and the civil service, 553. 

Great Britain, acknowledges independ- 
ence of United States, 208; relations 
with (1783-89), 228; Jay's treaty with, 
276-279; and neutral trade, 321-329; 
proposed treaty with (1806^323; treaty 
with (1809), 329; War of 1812 with, 
331-343; negotiations with (1815-18), 
352; relations with ii825-29>, 369, 370; 
(1829-37), 403; Ashburton Treaty with, 
412; Oregon Treaty, 423-424; during 
Civil War, 502, 527, 528; Alabama 
arbitration with, 546, 547. 

Greeley, Horace, 465, 477, 514, 515; nomi- 
nated for presidency, 548. 

Grenville, George, British minister, 138- 
140. 

Guadalupe Hidalgo, treaty of, 492. 

Hale, John P., 431. 
Halleck, General, 505, 506. 



Index 



XXlll 



Hamilton, Alexander, portrait, 267; auto- 
graph, 272; intrigues against Adams, 
859, 282. 290; political views, 261; Sec- 
retary of the Treasury, 266, 267; finan- 
cial measures, 267-269; letter to Dayton, 
288; killed by Burr, 320. 

Harrison, Benjamin, portrait, 556; elected 
President, 552. 

Harrison, \Vm. H., defeats Indians at 
Tippecanoe, 331; elected President, 
410; death, 411. 

Hartford Convention, 343-347. 

Harvey, John, governor of Virginia, 58. 

Hawaii, annexation of, 570. 

Hawkins, John, succors Huguenot col- 
ony, 40; h. , slave-trading voyages, 41. 

Hayes, R. B., President, 548. 

Hayne, R. Y., debate with Webster, 391- 
394 

Helper, H. 'K.,\C\% Impending Crisis, ^^^2. 

Henry, Patrick, portrait, 136; autograph, 
145; in the Parson's Cause, 136-138; 
his resolutions on the Stamp Act, 144; 
proposes Committees of Correspond- 
ence, 159; on representation, 216; op- 
poses ratification of the Constitution, 
249, 251 ; nominated commissioner to 
France, 288. 

Hessians, the, 180. 

Hood, Confederate general, 523, 525. 

Hooker, General Joseph, 518, 522. 

Hopkins, Stephen, 158, 163. 

Houston, Samuel, 419. 

Howe, British general, 173, 185. 

Hudson, Henry, 82. 

Huguenots (hu'ge-not), colony of the, 38, 
39; destroyed by Menendez, 39, 40. 

Hutchinson, Anne, 75-77. 

Hutchinson, Thomas, governor of Mas- 
sachusetts, 155-157, 161. 

Hylacomylus, see Waldseemiiller. 

Immigration, 456, 457, 572, 573. 
Implied powers, doctrine of, 242. 
Impressment controversy, 323-325, 331. 
Independence, Declaration of, 181-184. 
Independent Democrats, appeal of the, 

441, 442. 
Independent Treasury Act, 409, 411. 
Industi:a! development, 301-305, 462-464, 

577. 578 
Internal revenue taxes, 271, 27a, 491,555, 

556. 
Interstate Commerce Act, 577. 
Inventions, 303, 387, 426, 464, 
Iron industry, growth of, 578. 
Iroquois, League of the, 8a. 



Jackson, Andrew, portrait, 379; at New 
Orleans, 338; in Seminole War, 353; 
candidate for presidency (1824). 366; 
elected President, 373; character of, 
374) 377. 378; administration of, 37S- 
409; and the Civil Service, 391; and 
Nullification, 395; his war on the 
Bank, 403-406; his specie circular, 408. 

Jackson, British minister, 329. 

Jackson, Confederate general, 509, 518, 

Jackson, William, upholds slavery, 270. 

Jamestown settled, 53. 

Jay, John, in Continental Congress, 163; 
negotiator of treaty of peace of 1783, 
207; Chief Justice, 278; negotiates 
Jay's Treaty, 278. 

Jefferson, Thomas, portrait, 309; fac- 
simile of manuscript, 182; on represen- 
tation, 143; Colonial Committees of 
Correspondence, 159; his Siiiiimary 
View, 162, 181; in Continental Con- 
gress, 176; drafts Declaration of Inde- 
pendence, 181; minister to France, 
274; political theories of, 260, 261; on 
constitutionality of a national bank, 
272; founds Republican party, 273, 
274; author of Kentucky Resolutions, 
286, 287; elected Vice-President, 282; 
elected President, 291 : administrations 
of, 310-328; inaugural address, 310; 
and the Civil Service, 311-313; the 
Louisiana Purchase, 315; embargo 
policy of, 325-328; on Missouri Com- 
promise, 361; and Cuba, 558. 

Johnson, Andrew, elected Vice-President, 
528; becomes President, 530; admin- 
istration of, 538-543; impeachment of, 

543- 

Johnston, Albert Sidney, Confederate 
general, 505, 506. 

Johnston, Joseph E,, Confederate gen- 
eral, 498, 507, 509, 517, 522-524. 

Jones, Paul, 200, 

Judiciary, Federal, 245, 292, 313, 314, 

Kansas, struggle for, 443-445, 
Kansas-Nebraska Act, 439-441. 
Kentucky Resolutions, 286 287. 
Kieft, governor of New Netherland, 83, 

84. 
Know-Nothing party, 445-448. 

Laud, William, 70. 

Laudonnifere, de (dgh l5'do'ne-8r') Ren^, 

governor of Huguenot colony, 39. 
Laurens, Henry, 207. 
Lawrence, Amos A., 444, 



XXIV 



Index 



Lecompton convention and constitution, 
444, 445- 

Lee, Arthur, 190. 

Lee, Charles, treason of, 192, 193. 

Lee, Richard Henry, portrait, 250; reso- 
lutions for independence, 181; opposes 
ratification of the Constitution, 252. 

Lee, R. E., Confederate general, 509, 
518, 519, 525, 526, 529. 

Leon, de (dala-on'), Ponce, discovers 
Florida, 33. 

Liberty, seizure of the, 152. 

Lincoln, Abraham, portrait, frontispiece; 
autograph, 515; early political views, 
442, 443; on Kansas-Nebraska Act, 
443; debate with Douglas, 449, 450; 
nominated for the presidency, 470; 
elected President, 470; inaugural ad- 
dress, 482; cabinet, 483; proclamation 
for volunteers, 484, 485; policy as to 
emancipation, 513515; letter to Gree- 
ley, 515; Emancipation Proclamation, 
515, 516; re-elected President, 528; 
murdered, 530; on reconstruction, 537, 
538. 

Livingston, Robert R., 181; negotiates 
Louisiana Purchase, 315. 

Longstreet, Confederate general, 520, 
522. 

Louisiana, founding of, 114; ceded to 
Spain, 116; ceded back to France, 315; 
purchased by United States, 315-318; 
admitted to Union, 382. 

Lovejoy, Elijah P., murdered, 402. 

Lowell, F. C, 305. 

Loyalists, 204, 205, 210. 

Lyon, Nathaniel, 486, 487. 

Macon's Bill, No. 2, 329. 

Madison, James, portrait, 328; autograph, 
235; and the Federal Convention, 232 ; 
Notes of Debates in convention, 235, 
236; in House of Representatives, 264; 
Virginia Resolutions, 287; Secretary of 
State, 311; President, 328; adminis- 
tration of, 328-349; on internal im- 
provements, 351. 

Magalhaens, da (ma-gal-ya'ens) Fer- 
nando, discovers Magellan Strait, 32. 

Maine, 82; settlement of, 52, 53; ad- 
mitted to Union, 361. 

Malvern Hill, battle of, 509. 

Mansfield, Lord, 143. 

Manufacturing, growth of, 348, 463. 464. 

Maps, see Table of Contents. 

Marcos (mar-kos'). Friar, journey to the 
" seven cities," 35. 



Marshall, James W. , 427. 

Marshall, John, portrait, 312; autograph, 
350; commissioner to France, 283; 
Secretary of State, 289; Chief Justice^ 
292; Marbury zij. Madison, 313; Burr's 
trial, 321 ; McCuUoch vs. Maryland, 
350; Dartmouth College case, 351. 

Maryland, settlement of, 60; charter, 60- 
62; boundaries, 61; Toleration Act, 62; 
Coode's Rebellion, 107; slavery in, 121; 
refuses to ratify confederation, 222; 
ratifies, 223; conventions with Virginia, 
234; in Civil War, 496; abolition of 
slavery in, 516. 

Mason and Dixon's line, 98, 99, 271. 

Mason, Captain John, 77. 

Massachusetts, charters of, 69, 109; settle- 
ment and early history of, 71 82, 90-94, 
104, 105; in 1760-75, 134, 152, 155-158, 
161, 164, 165; claims of, to western 
lands, 219; cession, 223; in War of 
1812, 344. 

McClellan, General George B., 499; 
Peninsular campaign, 507, 508; An- 
tietam, 510; nominated for presidency, 
528. 

McCormick, Cyrus H., portrait and auto* 
graph, 426; his reaper, 426, 427. 

McCuUoch vs. Maryland, 350. 

McDonough, Commodore, 337. 

McDowell, General Irvin, 498. 

McKinlcy, William, portrait of, 581 ; Pres» 
ident, 553, 580; death of, 581. 

Meade, General George G., at Gettys- 
burg, 518; in later campaign, 525. 

Menendez de Aviles (ma-nen'deth da 
a-vee'l6s), Pedro, founds St. Augus- 
tine and destroys Hugueuot colony, 

39. 4°- 
Merritnac (Virginia'), 506. 
Mexican War, 421-423. 
Miles, General, 566. 
Missouri, in Civil War, 486, 487; abolition 

of slavery in, 516. 
Missouri Compromise, 360-363, 400. 
Monitor and Merriiiiac, 506, 507. 
Monmouth, battle of, 192, 193. 
Monroe, James, portrait, 350; autograph, 

323; minister to France, 280, 281; signs 

treaty for Louisiana Purchase, 316; 

negotiates treaty with England, 323: 

President, 349; administrations of, 349- 

364; and Cuba, 558. 
Monroe Doctrine, 356-359. 
Montgomery, General Richard, 175. 
Monts, Sieur de, 50. 
Morton, Thomas, 71. 



Index 



XXV 



Narvaez, de (da nar-va'Sth), Panfilo, his 

expedition, 35. 
National banking system, 491. 
Naturalization Acts, 284, 324. 
Navigation Ordinances and Acts, 82, 90. 
Neutral trade, 321-323. 
Neutrality Proclamation (1793), 275. 
Newburg Addresses, 202. 
New England, Council for, 63, 69; United 

Colonies of, 79-82; Dominion of, 106; 

Emigration Society, 444. 
New Haven colony, 78, 79, 92. 
New Jersey, colonial history of, 96, 97; 

slavery in, i2t, 227, 305. 
New Mexico, 422. 
New Netherland, settlement of, 82-84; 

conquest of, 95, 96. 
New Orleans, founding of, 114; battle of, 

338; captured by Fanagut, 503, 504. 
New York, colonial history of, 95, 96, 108, 

121; claims to western lands, 219, 220; 

cessions, 223. 
New York City, population in 1800, 300; 

in 1830, 382; in i860, 460; in 1900, 

573- 
North Carolina, land cessions, 223, 224; 

ratification of Constitution, 268. 
North, Lord, 191, 192, 205. 
Northeastern boundary dispute, 412-413. 
Northmen, voyages of, 19. 
Nullification episode, 395, 397. 
Nunez (noon'yeth), Vasco, discovers 

Pacific, 30. 

Olive Branch Petition, 176. 
Ordinance of 1787, 224-227. 
Oregon, negotiations as to, 423-425. 
Ostend Manifesto, 558. 
Oti«, James, 134-136; portrait, 135. 

Pacific, discovery of, 30. 

Paine, Thomas, 179, 233. 

Pakenham, British general, 338. 

Panama Canal, 582. 

Panama Congress, 369, 370. 

Panic of 1857, 464, 465. 

Parliament, supremacy of, 149. 

Parson's Cause, 136-138. 

Patroonships, 83. 

Pendleton, Senator, 555. 

Peninsular campaign, 507, 509. 

Penn, William, portrait, 97; and New 
Jersey, 97 ; grant of Pennsylvania, 97, 
98; Indian policy, 100; grants Charter 
of Privileges, loi. 

Pennsylvania, colonial history, 98-101. 

Perry, Commodore, 337. 



Philadelphia, population, in 1800, 299; 

in 1830, 382; in 1900, 574. 
Philippines, acquisition of, 569, 571. 
Phillips, Wendell, portrait, 470; auto* 

graph, 402; Faneuil Hall speech, 402; 

on Lincoln, 470; on secession, 477, 478. 
Pierce, Franklin, elected President, 438. 
Pilgrim Compact, 65, 67. 
Pilgrims, in England and the Netherlands, 

63, 65. 
Pinckney, Charles C, in Federal Con- 
vention, 236; minister to France, 281, 

283; nominated for vice-presidency, 290. 
Pinckney ,Thomas, minister to Spain, 280; 

nominated for vice-presidency, 282. 
Pinckney, William, minister to England, 

323- 
Pitt, William, Earl of Chatham, see 

Chatham. 
Pitt, William, the younger, 322, 
Plymouth, colonial history, 67-69. 
Polk, James K., elected President, 420. 
Pope, General John, 501, 509, 510. 
Popham Colony, 52, 53. 
Population, in 1760, 120; in 1775, 170; 

in 1800, 296-297; in 1830, 380; in i860, 

456-459; '" i9°o. 571- 
Porto Rico, acquisition of, 568, 571. 
President, functions of the, 246, 476, 477; 

change in mode of election of, 319. 
President and Little Belt, 330. 
Pring, Martin, 51. 
Protection, arguments for and against, 

348, 349. 364- 
Providence, founding of, 74, 75, 
Puritans, in England, 63 ; in Marylaiid,63. 

Quakers, in New England, 90-92; in New 
York, 92; in New Jersey, 96; in Penn- 
sylvania, 97. 

Railroads, 386, 461, 574-577. 

Rainfall, 7, 8. 

Ralegh colonists, 43, 44. 

Reconstruction, 536-545. 

Religion and toleration, 123, 124, 227, 228, 

39°- 

Representation in America and in Eng- 
land, 143, 144. 

Revolution, campaigns of, 172, 173, 184- 
188, 192, 195-200. 

Rhode Island, colonial history of, 74-77J 
charter, 94, 95. 

Ribault (re'bo), Jean, leads Huguenots 
to America, 38, 39; conflict with Me- 
nendez, 40. 

Rochambeau, French general, 198, 199. 



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LIBHAKY Ul- UUNUI-lt^a^D 



